Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Seekers of Legends
by slycoyote
Summary: Keira wakes up in a world where things are terribly wrong. The land itself is dying, as if being drained of energy. She can't remember anything except for her name - and she has a sneaking feeling that she wasn't a Poochyena before. She is soon found by a Zigzagoon, who drags her into a wacky adventure that leads them to discover the fate of this world - and her own destiny.
1. The Pokemon World

**30/05/2013: editing early chapters according to reviews and my own judgement.**

**Prologue**

At the edge of a polluted pond stood a strange creature, resembling both a feline and a canine. Her red eyes darted back to the scenery behind her – a large coniferous forest, sheltered by neighbouring mountains. The forest was a shadow of its former self, a corrupted shadow filled with twisted, blackened trees where there had once been magnificent pines that stretched so far into the sky that their tops seemed to touch the clouds.

She focused her attention back onto the pond. Stretching forward a blue paw, she willed all her power to gather into the limb. She submerged the paw in the water, holding her breath as a wave of blue energy spread over it, turning the surface into a glowing disk of light.

A disk of light that flickered twice and died down again, leaving the contaminated pond exactly what it had been. The Pokémon stared dejectedly at the water for a few moments.

"Why?" she said bitterly to herself. "Everything has been going wrong..."

_"Oh?"_

The Pokémon whirled around to the direction that the voice had come from. She could not find the source – the voice seemed to emanate from the earth itself. Its single word echoed around the valley.

_"I see... you and your friends are in quite a bit of trouble."_

"What is it to you?" she snarled. "Who are you, even?"

_"You need not know who I am yet. I have been... watching you three for some time."_

"None of this concerns you."

_"But it does concern me. After all, it concerns everyone in this world, does it not? You know that, Suicune..."_

"Leave. Leave before I make you. I have no time for whatever you plan to do. My brothers and I have important issues to deal with."

_"I can help you, you know."_

"We don't need your help," she snapped. "_Leave._"

_"My intentions are good, Suicune... All I ask of you is that you listen to what I am about to say. Who knows, what I have planned may bring a glimmer of hope to this world..."_

**Chapter One: The Pokémon World**

A little Zigzagoon bounded through the morning air, his fur fluffed up against the cold. An empty basket was slung around his neck. He reared up on his hind legs and looked around at the various berry bushes that grew here, nestled in the bend of the stream. Unable to spot a single bush that wasn't wilted and empty, he heaved a sigh.

"Huh…" he murmured, glancing at his empty basket. "I've come all the way out here, and there still isn't any food… The land here's dead, too. It must be late spring now…"

"But… why… are all the plants wilted? Why aren't the berries growing?" he asked the grey sky above him.

Nothing answered him; the only sounds were the soft rustle of dead leaves and branches in the wind and the slow trickle of the stream. He should have gotten used to this silence a long time ago – he hadn't heard the cheery twittering of Taillow since autumn and even in the normally bustling village things had quietened.

"Ah, nope!" he uttered, cutting off his train of thought. "I gotta stay optimistic. The berries have got to grow some time. I'm not gonna feel down just cause I can't find any food!"

He paused to scan the dead landscape, casting his eyes over the discoloured grass and darkened sky that had become so familiar to him over the last few months, "But… this… I don't understand what's happening. It's like… it's like the land's being drained of its life force."

He shook his head vigorously. "No. No. Don't think about that right now. You dunno what's happening and now isn't the time to find out. You've gotta collect some food for Ma and lil' Xavier, or we're gonna starve. There's gotta be some berries still out here."

With one last look at the lifeless grove of bushes, he set off further into the morning mist.

* * *

She opened her eyes. There was a dull throb in her head and her vision was blurry, but she immediately knew that she had awoken somewhere she hadn't been before.

_This… this is…_

Her senses were becoming clearer – she was lying on a rock at the edge of a sluggish stream. A feeling of foreboding hit her as she noticed how dark and dreary the landscape was – even though she cloud clearly see the noon sun, the sky was dull. The few nearby trees were blackened; few leaves hung at their branches.

_What… happened to this place?_

She shifted her weight, trying to get up. As soon as she managed to stand successfully, she felt something was wrong. Of course, that feeling of misplacement had been there as soon as she woke up, but...

_I am… standing… on four legs?_

She looked at the black-furred paws beneath her, and then twisted her head to get a better look at the rest of herself. She was some sort of creature… something with grey and black fur and large, furry tail. She scampered over to the stream to see her reflection – her face was canine, covered in black fur and with a large red nose. A Pokémon… what was it called? Oh yes – a Poochyena!

_But… why doesn't my body… feel right?_

Had she always been a Poochyena? Something about standing on four paws didn't feel right to her. But if she hadn't been one, why was she one now? And what was she before she was a Poochyena?

_I… I don't remember anything… do I?_

She searched through her memory until her head ached, and only one recollection surfaced.

_My name is Keira._

She just stood there, unsure of what to do, until she heard a loud, high-pitched voice.

"Oh! A Pokémon! Are you lost? You don't really see many 'mons out around these parts!"

She turned to see a brown-and-cream Pokémon bounding towards her in a zigzag motion. What was that one called again? Oh, Zigzagoon. He skidded to a stop as he reached her, and she noticed that he had a basket around his neck.

"Hi! I'm Ziggy! What's your name? You're definitely not from the village, are you? I've never seen a Poochyena around here!"

"H-hi… I'm Keira," she said hesitantly.

"Oh, okay!" he shouted cheerily – quite the inappropriate mood for this kind of environment. "I'm just from Topaz Village over there, see? It's right there near the base of the mountain. We're in a pretty isolated spot, so we don't get many travellers. You look young… are you lost, or something?"

"I-I think so," Keira answered. "I just woke up here and I can't remember anything except my name…"

"Oh! I'm sorry! Are you all right?" Ziggy yelped. "Are you hurt or something?"

"I don't think so," Keira said.

"Are you sure you don't remember anything? Just your name?"

Keira nodded.

"That's strange… you must have bumped your head on that rock, or something… But I'm out here almost every day and I've never seen any Poochyena or Mightyena around! That's really strange."

Had she bumped her head on the rock? Keira rubbed her forehead with a black paw. She was definitely having a headache when she woke up, but it didn't seem to have been because she hit her head on something.

"Huh… well… I'm sorry if this seems to be an absurd question to ask right after you've just lost your memory, but… do you have anywhere to go? I can take you back to the village if you want. If anyone's looking for you, they'd probably stop at the village," Ziggy suggested.

"I don't know where I came from. I don't remember anything," Keira repeated. "I-I'm not sure if I should…"

"No, no, it's absolutely fine! Topaz welcomes any Pokémon into his village, as long as they won't harm anyone else! I can't just leave you out here wandering and lost. These days it's really dangerous to be out alone. See how the land's so weird and half-dead? A lot of Pokémon are being extremely territorial because of that. They'll attack anyone that puts one step into their land. And food's scarce, too, so you don't want to get eaten by some hungry predator."

_This Zigzagoon... he's so... ah, I suppose I don't really have anywhere to go. I don't really have any choice. And if this place is anything like what he said..._

"I… oh, okay… thank you."

"Well, come on then! I'll take you to my place. My mum's really nice to everyone, though you might find my baby brother a bit annoying. I'm meant to be collecting berries right now, but that can wait!"

Without waiting for any further reply, he whipped around and began zigzagging towards the village. Keira began taking tentative steps forward. The grass felt stiff and chalky under her paws.

"Uh… are you sure you're all right? You're walking weird…" Ziggy, noticing her slowness, had turned around and asked.

"Sorry. I'm not used to be on four legs," Keira answered, and when she realized what she had said it was too late.

"Not used to being on four legs!? You must have bumped your head really hard! I-I can't carry you, though… sorry! Can you hold out until we get to the village?"

"O-okay," Keira answered. She took a deep breath and walked on, deciding that she'll be able to make more sense of this soon.

* * *

"Well, here's Topaz Village!" Ziggy cried out happily as they reached the humble little hamlet, built at the edge of a thickly forested mountain. Keira immediately liked the place – it was unimpressive, with homes and shops built out of crudely cut pine wood, but something about it felt inviting. Maybe because it looked like the community that had built those buildings had put every last bit of effort into them, even if they obviously weren't very good builders.

"Oh, hello there, Ziggy!" a deep voice boomed. Startled, Keira looked up to see the furry face of a huge Arcanine who had suddenly appeared beside them. "Who's your friend, huh? Ya don't see many Poochyena around these parts, eh?"

Without warning, the Arcanine swung a large paw at Keira. She yelped as it almost knocked her off her feet and began patting her.

"Hi, Topaz," Ziggy said. "Keira, this is Topaz. He's the founder of our village. He's really nice, too! Topaz, I found Keira near the river. She says that she couldn't remember anything but her name, so I'm taking her to Ma."

"Good on ya, kid!" Topaz praised. "Nice to see a Pokémon lookin' out for others in these times, eh? I hope someone comes to find her soon; her family must be missin' her to tears! Well, I've got things to do. Keep your spirits up, hm?"

And with that, Topaz waltzed off. Ziggy turned to Keira.

"I really admire Topaz. He's one of those Pokémon who keep being cheerful even when our world's going all screwy. I want to be like him – never giving up, always standing up to challenges!" Ziggy said.

Keira nodded, "Well, he does seem like a really good Pokemon..."

"Heh! Course he is! And c'mon, let's keep moving. You must be really tired by now. My home's not far away."

Keira dragged her paws over the dirt path as she followed Ziggy to his home. As they passed, some of the Pokemon in the village turned to look at them. However, none of them looked all that interested or perplexed. Was the village, perhaps, used to receiving unexpected visitors?

The village seemed a lot bigger now that she was in it – it had seemed quite small when she saw it from the edge of the moor. She was close to collapsing as they finally reached Ziggy's home, tucked in the corner of the village. Slightly elevated to combat snowfall, it built out of the same material as everything else and looked so much like the houses right next to it that she was surprised Ziggy knew which one was his.

Ziggy pushed open the door to reveal an interior with a dirt floor, some straw beds and a few wooden furniture items scattered around. A Linoone was sitting up on one of the beds, and there was another Zigzagoon – smaller than Ziggy – curled up in another, sleeping peacefully.

"Oh, Ziggy, you're back!" the Linoone said. Her eyes fell on Keira, and then on Ziggy's empty basket. "Oh, no luck finding berries today? That's all right… we can still last a while with the ones we stored in winter. And who is this Poochyena?"

"This is Keira," Ziggy said. "I found her by the stream today. She was lost and she doesn't remember anything. So I thought I should bring her back here. Can she stay with us until someone comes to find her?"

"Oh!" Ziggy's mother said. "That must have been terrible, darling! Of course you can stay! Ziggy'll tell the villagers to keep a lookout for any other Poochyena or Mightyena – I feel so bad for your parents! My name is Lana, but you can just call me Mum or Ma if you'd like."

Keira nodded, "Thank you so much…"

"It's completely okay," Ziggy said. "Topaz told us that we should welcome any Pokémon that needs help, and those who don't too. A lot of the villagers are Pokémon who we've found wandering lost around the mountainside. A lot of them just come and go, but some decide to stay."

He paused for a while. Then he took the basket off his neck and pushed it towards his mother.

"Oh, and Ma… I'm sorry I didn't bring back any berries. I looked all morning, but the bushes were all empty and then I got side-tracked, of course," he said with a grin at Keira.

"I told you it's all right," Lana answered. "The town market still has some in stock, and we do have a supply! Don't go worrying yourself too much over that, darling. Now, Keira, you look exhausted! You need to rest a bit. Ziggy, will you…?"

"Tell the villagers to keep a lookout? Sure," the Zigzagoon said, and turned to go back into the village. As he reached the doorway, he looked at Keira and said, "Don't worry, all right? We'll sure find your parents soon. They must be all over the place looking for you!"

"Thanks..." Keira murmured before exhaustion took over and she fell into a warm sleep.

**A/N: Welp... this is my first story. I really hope I did things right. I'd really love it if you tell me what you think - feel free to criticize. I know my writing's pretty shaky, and I want to improve. Thank you so much if you do!**


	2. The First Misadventure

**Chapter Two – The First Misadventure**

"Hey, Keira! Wake up!" the unmistakeable voice of Ziggy jolted Keira to a much more pleasant awakening than what she'd had yesterday. He was standing beside her, his face almost completely shoved into hers. Keira got up onto her paws and stretched. Lana and Ziggy's brother were nowhere to be seen.

"Good morning! Ma and Xavier are out for some town business. You've been sleeping for a long time, you know. Are you feeling up to going outside? 'Cause I've still got to look for berries, and I want someone to help!" Ziggy said, bouncing around excitedly. His basket was back around his neck.

"Uh, yes, sure." Keira replied. She glanced at her paws. _Well, I suppose now that I don't feel like dropping dead anymore... I feel more used to this body, too, but… I can't help but feel that I wasn't always one of those…_

"Great, then!" Ziggy said. He grabbed one of her front paws and began to drag her outside. "We'll see if we can spot any of your relatives, too. They're probably out looking for ya."

As soon as they reached outside, Ziggy broke into a zigzagging run. Keira chased after him – it felt good to run in this crisp morning wind. Had she ever run like this before, on four paws? It still felt odd and foreign. She pushed the thoughts to the back of her head, deciding to just focus on the task ahead.

"Hey, Ziggy, tell me something," she called as they reached the top of a hill.

"Yeah?" Ziggy circled around to face her and said.

"You said yesterday that there's a food shortage because the land's dying, didn't you? And you said that Pokémon were becoming aggressive because of that."

"Yup. That's what I said."

"But… why? It doesn't seem like a drought or anything."

"That's what everyone's trying to figure out, actually. It's definitely not a drought – there's been plenty of rain over the past few weeks. All we know is that it seems like… it seems like the health of this place is deteriorating. Like its life force is being drained away. Because of that, we haven't had many berries even though they usually fill the whole moor in spring. Anyway, there are Pokémon out there right now, trying to find what's going on. But until then, I've gotta keep searching for berries. I'm not gonna give up even if it means I'll have to look really hard!"

Without another word, the Zigzagoon began to descend down the hill. Keira leapt after him.

"Come on, there's a bigger hill just right over here. If we get to the top of it, we'll be able to look out through the entire moor and see if we can spot your relatives. I'm glad that it's not as misty this morning – it might be a bit hard to spot a grey Pokémon with all that discoloured grass."

Keira ran up the tall hill with surprising ease – if she had been something else before, it definitely didn't have as much stamina as a Poochyena. They _were_ known for their tenacity and stamina when hunting.

"Huh…" Ziggy said. "I don't see anyone out there."

Keira squinted at the sprawling moor – no furry, black-and-grey shapes in sight.

"Sorry, Keira," Ziggy said. "You must be pretty worried about your family right now. I'm sure we'll find them soon. For now, you'll have to come and look for berries with me, all right?"

_Worried about my family, huh… _Keira thought, _I… I don't feel that. Maybe it's because I lost my memory, but… I think there's something more to that._

"Are you coming? If you don't wanna come, you can go back to the village. The Pokémon there are pretty interesting, you know. I can sit for ages listening to their stories of how they found the village!" Ziggy was already halfway down the hill.

"Sorry! Coming!" she called.

"Okay!" Ziggy gasped as they both reached the bottom of the second hill. He pointed with a paw to where the moor's stream bended. "I looked all over there yesterday, so this time we'll go along the edge of the mountain. I know this place really well, so we won't get lost. So c'mon, don't hesitate!"

Ziggy rocketed across the grassland. Keira heaved a sigh at his behaviour and once again started chasing after him. The Zigzagoon used his peculiar running pattern to check the berry bushes scattered across the moor – his zigzagging motion was surprisingly efficient for performing such a task.

Keira decided to try something – she sniffed the air, hoping to catch the scent of berries with her sensitive nose. But all she smelled was something strange; a thick odour that emanated from beneath the Earth. It wasn't unpleasant, but she still coughed and cleared her nose, trying to block the scent away. Was this the scent of corruption?

"Yeah, I tried that," Ziggy said. "Man, it would've made my life so much easier if I could smell where the berries were. Ah, well, guess I'll have to do it the slow way, huh? At least I get plenty of exercise this way!"

He turned away from the bush that he had looked through and was about to shoot off to another one when a hissing noise made him skid to a stop.

"Hey… d'ya hear that?" he asked. Keira nodded. Ziggy continued, "I think it came from the cave over there."

Keira looked to her right and saw a small opening in the mountainside that she hadn't noticed before. The two Pokémon edged closer to the cave, straining their ears to try hear the noises more clearly.

_"Let go of me, you disgusting thing! You're dirtying my tail! Do you think that I'd lose to a common bug like you!?" _the yell was high-pitched, yet male – probably the voice of a young unevolved Pokémon.

_"Ha ha ha… quite the plucky little fellow we've got here, huh? Worried about his pretty tail when he's about to be eaten alive!" _a deeper, much more menacing voice cackled.

"Someone's in trouble!" Ziggy shouted out loud, apparently not realizing that whoever was inside could hear him - or maybe he didn't care. "Come on, Keira! We gotta go help him!"

He dove into the cave before Keira could stop him. Keira took a hesitant step forward – the voice that was taunting the other Pokémon sounded scary, and she didn't want to have to face it, whatever it was.

"Keira, come on!" Ziggy yelled from inside the cave. "There's a big Ariados in here! I need your help! I can't take him out all by myself!"

Keira took a deep breath and plunged into the cave. It was surprisingly light inside – unfortunately, that also meant she got a good look at the monstrous insect that was in it. A spider four times her size towered over them, held in one of his claws a struggling, cursing Snivy. She shuddered and edged behind Ziggy.

"I don't need your help! I can take this big idiot out by myself! Go away!" the Snivy was screaming. Vines lashed out from his shoulders, bouncing off the giant spider without doing any damage.

"I advise you to shut up and stop struggling. You sure don't know your type matchups!" Ariados snapped. "As for you two… well, well, well. I've been living on berries for the last month and it's time I got some good fresh meat, so you'd…"

"Berries!?" Ziggy interrupted. "But I've looked all over! There are hardly any berries around…"

"Fool!" Ariados said. "There have been less and less berries around for whatever reason, so I've gathered up the last of them for myself! That's why you don't see any around here anymore. For a carnivore like me to eat berries… how shameful! I had a mighty good surprise when this little snake here got caught in my entrance web… you're lucky that he destroyed it for you two."

"Let him go!" Ziggy cried. "You can't just…"

"Listen, little raccoon," Ariados snarled. "I'm a predator. I. Eat. Other. Pokémon. It's a simple fact of life, and it's about time I got some proper food – the village is too well defended for me to attack, and almost nobody wanders out this way. Therefore… you two aren't escaping either!"

Ziggy and Keira scattered as the Ariados shot a stream of silk at the cave entrance, sealing it shut and trapping them inside.

"Great, now look what you've done!" the Snivy screamed.

"Shut up! Shut up!" Ariados said and swung his free front claw at Ziggy, who narrowly dodged.

Meanwhile, Keira was panicking. She didn't know how to fight - and she'd just ended up in a body that felt foreign to her! Ziggy was doing his best to keep the Ariados occupied, lowering his head and charging into his vulnerable abdomen. Ariados was having difficulty grabbing him with only one free claw. Meanwhile, the Snivy was struggling harder than ever.

"Keira! Do you know how to battle? Help me!" Ziggy yelled as Ariados fired a string of silk at him. He zigzagged out of the way and went back in for another attack. Ariados hissed loudly as the Zigzagoon jumped towards him and tackled him straight on the head. He lashed at him with his front leg again, knocking him onto the ground.

"No!" Ziggy screamed as the giant spider picked him up by the tail and gloated. Ariados turned his attention to Keira, who was still cowering in a corner. He took slow steps at her – he was having some difficulty walking on only two legs.

"And now, you!" he shouted. "I suppose you'll have the extra pleasure of being held in my jaws, eh?"

Keira shrieked and jumped out of the way as another gush of silk shot her way. The Ariados's head followed her like a turret, blasting her with wave after wave of silk. She couldn't keep dodging forever, she thought.

"Do something, you idiot!" Snivy yelled. "I'm gonna blame you if I get eaten!"

Keira's stamina abandoned her and she skidded into the cavern wall, panting. She couldn't dodge those attacks anymore. She pressed against the wall, her fur flattening and making her seem even smaller in comparison to the gigantic Ariados.

"Pathetic!" the creature gloated. "Oh, what an easy meal to catch!"

"You can talk after you've won!" Ziggy snapped. Keira's eyes jerked towards him and widened – the Zigzagoon had managed to swing himself up by his tail so he was clutching Ariados's front claw. Opening his mouth wide, he bit down on the soft insect exoskeleton.

Ariados screeched in pain, a horrible, high-pitched screech that made Keira's entire body vibrate. As if she wasn't shaking hard enough already. He let go of the two Pokémon that he held. Snivy laughed as he landed on his head and immediately wrapped his vines around his jaw. Ziggy landed on the ground, rising back to his feet with a surprised look on his face.

"L… lmmhhh… ghhhh!" the Ariados tried to say.

"Sand!" Ziggy gasped as if it was the most wonderful thing in the world. "Sand! There's sand in the cavern floor!"

"What?" Snivy said.

He received his answer in the form of Ziggy kicking hard against the sand, sending it into Ariados's face. He recoiled his vines in alarm, as if he didn't want to get them dirtied. Ariados roared and began to scratch madly at his eyes. Snivy leapt off as the insect charged straight into the silk barrier, destroying it. The sticky silk wrapped all around him, gluing his limbs to each other.

"Gaaaaghh! Get it out of my eyes!" he screeched.

"Heh!" Snivy laughed. "That's what you get for trying to eat _me_!" With that, he jumped onto the insect's face and began to whip his closed eyes with his vines.

Ziggy, a wide grin on his face, took another charge at Ariados. The Headbutt attack hit him square on the side and he toppled over onto his back, his own silk entangling him and preventing him from getting up.

"You imbeciles! You'll pay for this!" Ariados roared.

Then he fell unconscious.

"One pathetic giant bug," Snivy sneered. "That's exactly what I expect from the evolution of a common Spinarak."

"You can't talk!" Ziggy said. "We saved you, you know."

"Yeah, right," Snivy replied. "I'd have beaten him to a pulp if you two hadn't insisted in coming in too. I almost got trapped in here because of you."

"W-what?" Keira said.

"And you," Snivy said. "You, Poochyena, how much more of a coward can you be? It's a simple thing – go charge at that ugly bug and bite him in the face. You'd have saved me lots of trouble if you'd taken the consideration to, you know, be useful."

"Keira hasn't battled before!" Ziggy said. Keira wondered if she had.

"I won't waste my time with you two," Snivy snapped. "Such common creatures as Zigzagoon do not concern a rare Snivy such as myself. Not sure about you, Poochyena but you look pretty common, too. Now, if you'll mind, show me where the nearest settlement is."

"You're just going to waltz out of here like…" Ziggy was cut off before he could finish his sentence.

"Listen, Zigzagoon. I have no time to waste with you. Show me where the nearest settlement is, or do you all just live like barbarians in this moor?"

"It's over there," Keira said, pointing a paw towards the direction of the village.

"Well, I shall take my leave then," Snivy said and strolled away. "Don't forget the favour I did for you two today! And don't try to help me again. You'll only cause trouble."

"That Snivy… man, he's ridiculous!" Ziggy said as he went out of earshot. Keira shrugged.

"Should we go home? Or keep looking?" she asked.

"Come with me a moment. I want to check something," Ziggy gestured towards the cave.

The two Pokémon walked in. Now that the giant insect was no longer blocking the way, they saw something amazing – a huge pile of assorted berries against the back wall of the cave. The pile nearly reached the ceiling of the cave. Though most of them weren't fresh anymore, and even the fresher ones looked a bit dry, this was a much-needed discovery.

"So many berries!" Ziggy cried. "He said that he started storing them when the land began to go weird, huh? This'll feed us for ages!"

Keira grinned. "We'd better get Topaz or someone. That's gonna take a lot of trips."

"And Topaz'll roast this spider if he wakes up while we're at it!" Ziggy laughed, and the two of them ran back to the village.

Late that night, after the village celebrated their finding of the berry stash, Ziggy and Keira lay in their beds talking quietly, as to not disturb Lana and Xavier.

"Ziggy… I'm sorry about today. I wasn't brave enough. I should've helped fight the Ariados," Keira said.

"Don't worry about it!" Ziggy said. "See, I'm not too good at battling either, but when you gotta depend on your survival skills, well, you gotta use them. I think you lost your battling confidence along with your memory – most Pokémon are trained by their parents to fight from the moment they can use an attack. I don't blame you. We won in the end, right?"

"… Thank you…"

"I wasn't really impressed with how that Snivy acted to us afterwards, though. I guess that's just who he is. He did fight, too. We'll probably get into another fight sometime. Just promise me you'll do your best, okay? Goodnight. That was one tiring day."

Ziggy immediately began to snore.

_Oh… I guess I'd better go to sleep too. Who knows what's going to happen tomorrow? _Keira thought.

* * *

_"Keira…_

_"I hope you haven't forgotten your duty…_

_"You are here for a reason._

_"The time will come soon."_

**A/N: Gehhhh... I fail at description. Sorry. I'll be better at it if you review and gimme some advice ^_^**


	3. Rumours

**Chapter Three – Rumours**

**A/N: I added a prologue. It's been stuck in before the beginning of Chapter One. Sorry for making those of you who've already read the story go back, but reading the prologue now wouldn't really make a difference. It concerns some important stuff that will happen later in the fic.**

**Also, thank you all for the helpful reviews! They mean a lot to me!**

Early the next morning Keira woke up in a cold sweat. She was sure of it – there had been a voice in her dream, an alien voice that said something about a duty. She glanced at Ziggy, curled up on his straw bed, unsure of whether or not to tell him – and decided against it. It might have just been an ordinary – just strange – dream, and it was unlikely that Ziggy will be able to do anything to help. Seeing that it was still too early to go outside, she went back to sleep.

She did not notice Ziggy rolling over and murmuring, "Okay. I'll keep a sharp lookout."

* * *

The days at the village passed by in a blur for the next few weeks. Every morning, Keira and Ziggy would run up to the hill and look out across the plains, but not once did they see any wolf-like creatures wandering in the moor. The residents of Topaz Village reported no sightings, many insisting that there have never been any Poochyena or Mightyena in the region before Keira. Gradually, they gave up on the task. Even Ziggy didn't want to search anymore.

"They… maybe they didn't want you in their pack," he had said. "That's okay though. You can stay with me!"

Most of their daily routines involved going out to the village to gossip with the Pokémon, and going out to play in the moor, occasionally finding a few berries. They hadn't run into any aggressive Pokémon since the Ariados, which Keira was grateful for. Ziggy guessed that not many Pokémon would claim a territory that had hardly any food left, especially if it was near a settlement that was, though crude, rather well-defended thanks to Topaz.

Keira had finally gotten used to controlling her body properly, and now her movements felt as natural as ever. Ziggy had suggested that they do some battle practice, but she denied. She insisted that she didn't want to hurt anyone, including herself. Hearing that, Ziggy just shrugged and suggested that they go do something else.

Keira also noticed that she has not had any dreams since the first time the voice called to her. Figuring that it was probably from knocking her head on the rock, she pushed it to the back of her mind.

Keira's life seemed to go on like what would be expected of a normal Pokémon in a normal town, albeit one that was built in the middle of a deteriorating landscape. That was, until one day…

Ziggy froze, all of a sudden, during one of their strolls in the market. His ears perked up towards a nearby stand.

"Huh? What's up?" Keira prodded him.

"Come with me," he said sharply. "C'mon, Keira. This way."

"Huh?"

"Just come with me, 'kay?" Ziggy said. He casually walked over to a stand where a Girafarig and a Teddiursa were talking, then quickly darted behind it. Keira had no choice but do the same.

"What's going on?" she said.

"Not so loudly!" Ziggy hissed. "These two Pokémon are from the guild. I recognise their scarves. They're an exploration team."

"Exploration team?" Keira asked.

"Not now!" Ziggy said, a tone of urgency in his voice. "Lemme listen to what they're saying."

"… planned an expedition. They've already picked the members, I think, and they're gonna announce it at tomorrow's dinner meeting," the Teddiursa was saying. "Oh, and I didn't quite catch it properly, but Cyra told us we were going to some place called Glyph Cave."

Ziggy drew a sharp breath and bumped his head on the side of the stall.

"Oof! My head!" he moaned, realized what he was doing, and clapped a paw over his mouth.

Keira held her breath as Teddiursa looked curiously in their direction. She ducked and pressed hard into the stall wall, hoping that she wouldn't be noticed. Risking a peep out, she exhaled in relief as he went back to what he was doing. She looked at Ziggy - he was concentrating harder than she'd ever seen him do before, his ears looking as if they would fall off if he strained them any harder.

"Yeah, man, and we totally did get picked!" Girafarig was saying. He reared up on his hind legs, surprising the stall owner – a surly-looking Persian. "Oops, sorry, man. But we like, did all of the jobs they gave to us super quick. Only the best members get picked, you know, and we're quite aware of our own outstanding performance."

"Look, tell your story somewhere else. I don't have time for your guild chit-chat," the Persian snapped. "Plus, your behaviour is making me quite nervous."

Girafarig blabbered on as if Persian had just said the opposite of what he did, "I dunno what Guildmaster was thinking, man! We do have a lot of jobs to do, what with this place here going totally weird. I suppose that's why the less fortunate dudes get to stay…"

The Persian was now glowering at the team. Teddiursa tugged at his friend's fur, but Girafarig talked on.

"I dunno what Glyph Cave is, but I hope it's somewhere really dangerous! Haven't had much thrill time since that crazy Rhydon quest. Guess we'll know when we get there. I'm gonna totally kick the butts of anyone who gets in my way!" Girafarig reared up once again, this time kicking out with his front legs. His hooves slammed into the fragile orbs lined up neatly on the stall front, shattering them with the sound of breaking glass. The orb fragments flew into Persian's face.

"Out! Out!" Persian screamed. "Get out of my store before I rip your faces off!"

"I tried to warn you!" Teddiursa shouted. He grabbed onto his friend's hind leg and dragged him away with impressive power.

"Sorry, mister! Won't do it again!" Girafarig called out as they disappeared in the direction of what Keira supposed must be the guild.

Keira and Ziggy made a quick sprint away from the stall. They slipped in between two dead-looking trees planted in front of a gap between two buildings and made their way to the far end of the village, right near the wooden fence that surrounded it. Keira noticed the powdery, short grass under her paws. Normally, the grass would have been overgrown in such an area.

"That escalated rather quickly," Ziggy panted as he sat down, leaning on the fence. "You don't want to get Chance the Persian – or Mister Unpleasant -With-A-Rather-High-Chance-of-Rage, as we like to call him – mad at you. When he gets angry, he gets angry. One stubborn Pokémon when it comes to holding grudges, too. I don't see how he couldn't be more optimistic. He's one of the richest 'mons in town."

Keira nodded. She didn't need him to tell her that – she had just seen the consequences with her own eyes.

"Why did you want to hear what they said?" she asked.

"Well, let me start from the beginning, okay?" Ziggy said. "Okay. I forgot to mention this, but near the village there's a guild. I don't know much about it, except it started up recently. Anyway, I've been trying to join this guild since it started, but some of the Pokémon there… well… they're all good Pokémon, but they enjoy mocking younger members."

"Oh…" Keira said.

"No, no!" Ziggy said. "I wasn't discouraged by them or anything. It just made me want to think about it more before I try to join. But then we had a food shortage – and no matter how much Ma tried to hide it, I knew we were running out of food. So I haven't thought about joining again for some time. I really want to be in an exploration team. You probably won't expect me to say this, but sometimes this place gets a little boring."

"You keep mentioning a thing called an exploration team, but… what is it, anyway?"

"They do exactly what they sound like and more. Exploration teams are groups of Pokémon that go out and explore these places where normal Pokémon wouldn't go. Most towns have a few around, to use as scouts and such. They're also sent out to look for Pokémon in trouble and apprehend any outlaws. They don't just work for others, though; many places in this world contain unbelievable treasures, and the greatest exploration teams aspire to find them. I want to be in one for all of those reasons! You'll have to train at a local guild to become a certified team, though."

"Oh…"

"Ah, okay. Anyway, the point is that now we've secured the food problem – for a while, anyway – I think I might have a go at joining it again. But I'm really surprised that they're having an expedition. I think it's their first one. If I join now, I'll miss the expedition, and with the land like this it's not likely that they'll find the time to stage another one in a while…"

"So you're saying…"

"Yeah. What I'm getting at is… what about we sneak into the guild tomorrow evening? We'll hear out their plans and we'll go and tail them!"

_You mean… leave the village? Leave and find ourselves exposed to all those dangerous Pokémon you mentioned? Without any proper training?_ Thoughts were racing through Keira's head.

"But you said that it was dangerous to be out alone!"

"We're not alone! We've got each other, right? And the guild! The guild'll clear away any dangerous Pokémon for us! And besides, I had that…" Ziggy's speech suddenly cut off.

"You were saying?" Keira prompted.

"Oh, never mind," he said. "But we've gotta go. It's really important, 'kay?"

"What about Lana and Xavier?"

"They'll be fine thanks to that Ariados gathering up so many berries for us! I've on gone some trips before to explore the mountain. She'll just think I'm on another little journey of my own."

Keira tilted her head, thinking.

Her thoughts were quickly cut off as, without warning, Ziggy pounced on Keira. She yelped as she toppled over onto her back, the Zigzagoon scampering onto her and staring at her cutely with his large brown eyes, "Please? They said... No, I, uh, I don't want to go alone but I don't wanna miss this!"

Keira was reluctant to say yes, but she knew that she had no choice. She wanted to stick to her life at the village – a life of peace. Following a guild on an expedition to who-knows-where was not her idea of peace. She remembered the battle with Ariados – going to unknown places in times like these would probably involve battling. But she couldn't say no to a Pokémon who had done so much for her.

"Oh… okay, then," she said.

"Yay! Thank you so much!" Ziggy clapped his paws around her neck in a hug. "I knew you'd say yes!"

Keira smiled.

"I promise you we won't get found out!" Ziggy said. He rubbed his front paws together excitedly. "I hope they're going somewhere really cool. Trust me, this is the right way to go!"

Ziggy bounded off happily down the way back to the market square, almost tripping over a fallen branch as he went. Keira just stood there and watched him go for a few seconds before following.

_He seems to be hiding something,_ she thought.

* * *

_"Your mission…"_

Keira jumped. Another dream! She realized that she could now see, but what was in front of her was merely a swirling vortex of strange colours.

_"The time has come…"_

"W-wha… who are you?" she whimpered. "W-what's going on?"

_"Follow the path that has been set for you!"_

Keira's eyes opened and she was hit by a wave of relief. She was out of the dream. A shaft of silver moonlight shone through the window. Ziggy's family were sleeping. Being careful so that she wouldn't make any noise, she placed her head on her paws to think.

Her mission? What mission? She had woken up in this place with no memories, nothing to tell her that she was on some mission. And what was all this about the time coming?

_And the path that's been set for me…_ She didn't remember anything about a path that she had to go down, whether it be physical or metaphorical. Were those dreams a remnant of her past? Did she perhaps have those dreams before she lost her memory? By losing her memory, she must have also lost all the information she needed to make sense of them.

_Then... that means I can't do anything about them, _she thought. _I need to know more. Maybe my dreams are a key to my past... Maybe, if I look carefully into those dreams, I'll find some clues._

She closed her eyes again. If she ever has another dream, she decided, she'll look for any clues that may be embedded in them.

Beside her, Ziggy murmured something.

"I did it."

**A/N: Sorry for the DIALOGUE DIALOGUE MORE DIALOGUE OMFG but I had to get this bit done. Plot's gonna pick up from here.**


	4. Spies

**Chapter Four – Spies **

**A/N: The prologue changed a bit. Ugh. Sorry about being so indecisive with it. I had… some stuff… that I didn't really want in there.**

The evening of the next day came much faster than Keira would have expected – or would have liked. As soon as Ziggy saw the sky reddening, he had latched onto Keira with one front paw and half-dragged, half-led her to a hill overlooking the guild.

The guild looked quite impressive. The sturdy-looking building was made of several connected blocks, and there appeared to be some sort of yard in the centre, though Keira couldn't see exactly what was going on in there from where she stood. What had made it look so striking, though, were the pictures carved and painted into the walls – depictions of unevolved Pokémon standing up against fearsome creatures such as Salamence, of perilous journeys through chasms and mountains. As cool as she found them, Keira definitely didn't want to be one of the Pokémon in the pictures.

"Come on, let's find the dinner hall," Ziggy said. "From the stuff I've heard around town, all of the apprenticing teams gather into one hall to eat. They must have really fun food fights!"

"Hey, what about them?" Keira pointed a paw towards a Swablu and a Floatzel who were hanging around the entrance. "Are they guards?"

"We'll just sneak past them! They don't look like the vigilant sort, anyway."

"Uh… why couldn't we just join this guild?"

"'Cos they only pick good members to go on expeditions, and if you're a rookie they're obviously not gonna pick you. C'mon, Keira, we've gotta find out what time they leave! Remember what Teddiursa said? They'll announce at a dinner meeting. We'll just slip in, find the dinner hall and listen in on them through one of the windows."

"What about asking to tag along?"

"Oh! I haven't considered that. But they'll probably think it's too dangerous for us two. Anyway, let's go!"

Ziggy scampered off down the hill towards the guild.

_Why do we have to do this? _Keira thought and ran after him. The Zigzagoon was already sprinting about the connected buildings, ears perked up to catch any sounds that would lead them to the correct section of the guild.

They soon found the dinner hall – there were plenty of open windows for sound to pass through, despite the guild's thick walls, and the incredible noise emanating from the place quickly led them to it. There were so many voices that it was impossible to distinguish any words. Ziggy reared up, supporting himself on the wall and trying to see through the window, but he was too short. He tried to stand on his tiptoes, but fell over on his back with a yelp.

"Wow, everyone sounds so excited. When are we gonna be able to join them?" Keira heard a distinct voice over the ruckus – and it was coming from outside.

"One of the guards!" Ziggy hissed. "Come on, Keira, we've gotta find somewhere to hide! Any suspicious activity is treated very seriously these days."

Keira looked around for a place to hide. She found none.

"I don't think they're going to just leave us out of it," the other guard said.

"Shoot, we're gonna be caught!" Ziggy muttered.

"Heyyyy, Team Cyclone!" a third voice joined in. It came from above. Keira jumped and looked up – there was a Staravia hovering just over the next corner. He hadn't seen them.

"Guildmaster's gonna announce the expedition plan now! You're both to get into the dinner hall right away! He's not gonna let you go if you got picked but miss the meeting!" he screeched.

"About time!" the first voice that they had heard said. Keira loosened up as she heard footsteps pattering away from where they were.

"Whew," Ziggy breathed. "That was close. It would have been really awkward if they'd caught us! They're gonna announce their plan now, huh? We'd better listen really carefully."

Suddenly the voices in the hall quietened down. Even from outside the building, Keira could feel the atmosphere of tension in the hall. Those guild members really did take their expeditions seriously.

"Ahem!" someone coughed, and then started to speak. "Good evening, guild members. I am sure that all of you are aware that the expedition members will be announced today."

Shouts of excitement sounded from the guild, until the speaker cleared his throat again. Keira and Ziggy edged as close as they could to the window so they could hear everything clearly. Keira hoped that they wouldn't have to do this for long – it was very uncomfortable rearing up and trying to stretch to the window, with her paws pressed hard into the rough stone wall.

"We have chosen the five most worthy teams to go on the expedition," the speaker continued. "We have also elected a single expedition leader who will be helping Aesta and me with the overall trip. The expedition leader is expected to set an example for the rest of the party throughout the expedition. We have observed your performance over the last few weeks and have come to a conclusion as to who it would be – Flare the Charmeleon."

The hall erupted into a cheer so loud that Keira jumped away from the window with her paws clamped over her ears. Ziggy remained there, apparently keen to hear every single word.

"Please be quiet!" another speaker yelled. "Let the Guildmaster speak!"

"Thank you, Aesta," the Guildmaster said. "And now, for the expedition members."

The already thick tension in the hallway doubled. Keira could imagine every Pokémon holding their breath, every pair of eyes fixed on their Guildmaster. Were the Pokémon in this world all this keen to set out upon dangerous lands in hopes of discovering something?

"C'mon, c'mon, tell us the time already!" Ziggy muttered.

"We select teams not for their strength, but their worthiness – for their outstanding performance in missions and their intense will to do well in the guild and to help the Pokémon of this world in the darkest of times. The following five teams have shown their worthiness in every way possible. In no particular order, I ask for those chosen Pokémon to come to the front."

The tension at this moment was so strong Keira almost thought the walls were going to burst because of it.

"First of all, Sydin and Darius of Team Thrill!"

"Wohoo! I told ya we got picked, Sydin! Told ya!" Keira recognised this voice as belonging to the Girafarig they saw in the town square yesterday.

"We did a good job, huh?" the Teddiursa spoke up too.

"Secondly, Jeffrey, Magnus and Flitter of Team Rain Dance!"

More cheers from the guild. Keira looked up to the sky – more time had passed than she'd thought, and it was now a dull pink. A sunset over the moor probably would have been spectacular if not for the strange phenomenon that had happened to this world.

"Aw, hurry up with those names!" Ziggy said.

"Hey, Ziggy…" Keira began. While the Guildmaster was calling out names, she might as well get some answers out of Ziggy.

"Hmm?" Ziggy said, drawing his attention away from the Guildmaster's speech.

"Why are you so keen to go on this expedition? You're acting as if we absolutely have to go."

"But of course we have to go! Uh, I mean… why not? We don't need to stay home anymore. Heck, we're old enough to be by ourselves, aren't we? And, umm, I don't want to miss a big adventure! Just stick with me, 'kay? It'll be great!"

"But… you…"

"I've got my reasons!" Ziggy interrupted, and went back to listening in on the speech. Keira shrugged and did the same.

"The chosen teams are to use the last of the evening to stock up on supplies," the Guildmaster's stern voice said. "They will then ensure that they get a good nights' sleep. Tomorrow morning, at sunrise, we'll set off over the moor. We are heading eastwards towards a place called Glyph Ruins. In the ruins, there is said to be a Glyph Cave. Glyph Cave is supposedly decorated with thousands of strange runes. Our mission is to decipher these runes. Some say that they hold a secret to the past."

Oohs and aahs sounded from the hall.

"The pathway to the cave is dangerous and filled with aggressive Pokémon, which is why you should prepare as fully as possible. Keep in mind that the land is under the effect of some strange spell, and we may need to take precautions accordingly. Either way, I hope that we have a good expedition, and solve the mystery of Glyph Cave. Zephyr, please wake the selected teams up early tomorrow. Thank you for your attention. You are now dismissed."

At once, wild cheers erupted from the Pokémon in the guild. This time, Ziggy too tumbled back with his paws on his ears. They ran away from the dangerously loud noise as quickly as possible, stopping at the top of the hill.

"Are you sure about this?" Keira asked, her ears ringing. "They said it's really dangerous."

"Trust me, Keira," Ziggy said. "We have to go! No matter what! And it'll be a great adventure!"

* * *

That night, Ziggy had convinced Keira to go outside with him. They sat on the top of the big hill where they used to scan the moor for any traces of Keira's 'relatives'.

"Are you sure the stuff we packed was enough?" Keira asked.

"Heh… well, I didn't want to seem suspicious stocking up along with the guild when I don't have their signature scarves, so I had to just get out whatever stuff I had stored for my own trips out of town," Ziggy said. "You know, before the land started going weird, I often came up here to look at the night sky. My da said that the stars are actually different worlds high up in the sky. I asked him how he knew, but he said an old friend told him. A legendary Pokémon he met when he was just a Zigzagoon."

Keira had long ago noticed that there were no stars in the sky any more. It was a featureless dome of the darkest blue, with only a weakening moon providing light. She couldn't help but feel a twinge of sadness for the sky.

"Your father… where is he?"

"Oh, he's a trader! He often sails around the world, looking for exotic merchandise. I hardly ever see him…"

"Oh, I see…"

"He's one of my inspirations for wanting to join the guild. I want to go to wonderful places all over the world, just like him... I want to meet Pokémon only ever heard of in myths, just like him! But… hey, Keira… remember when I said I had second thoughts about joining, because the Pokémon there weren't friendly to new members? Well, it's more than that."

"Huh?"

Ziggy looked up to the starless sky, his eyes reflecting the weak glow of the moon. "I felt that I had the responsibility to stay and help my family, as they were the ones who raised me. Ma told me over and over to chase my dreams as I liked, but I couldn't bring myself to leave my home forever and live in the guild instead. And… there is one more reason."

"What is it?"

"I'll tell you later," he said with a mischievous grin upon his face. "Now we need to get back home and get a good sleep, 'cause tomorrow our lives are about to get even more interesting!"

**A/N: ermahgerdbackstoryasdfghjkl**

**Tell me what you think pwease! The plot is finally kicking off!**


	5. In the Wilderness

**Chapter Five – In the Wilderness**

**Something tells me I shouldn't have titled the fic Seekers of Legends, saw so many similar titles around Dx.**

"Oh! There they are," Ziggy whispered.

Keira was shivering as they stepped out onto the hills of the moor, despite her thick grey coat. She shook herself, fluffing up her fur once again and tried to concentrate on the adventure ahead. Not that she was very prepared – out of anxiety, she had not slept well last night. She thought about what possibly would happen on the trip – attacks by these dangerous Pokémon like Ariados, of course, and various complications such as the possibility of losing the guild and getting lost.

The two Pokémon silently made their way towards the hill overlooking the guild. Thankfully, the mist was thin today, so the guild Pokémon were clearly visible. They were standing in a circle right outside the guild building, apparently discussing their trip. To her surprise, many of them were completely unevolved Pokémon. She had expected the best Pokémon in the guild to at least have evolved once. It also struck her that she had not seen a single Pokémon evolve since the day she awoke on the moor, many weeks ago.

"How are we supposed to hide from them? The moor's pretty flat, save for the hills by the mountainside. Plus, the grass is too short to hide either of us," Keira said. She looked doubtfully over the dull landscape, the horizon blurred by the familiar morning mist.

"Good question!" Ziggy said. "Well, I… haven't thought of that! Hehe…"

Keira sighed. Maybe it was better that they'd be caught. Then they might be sent back to the village, back to the protection of its villagers.

… No. She couldn't let that happen to Ziggy. He had been so enthusiastic to go on this trip. Though why exactly, she had no idea.

"H-hey, don't get discouraged, 'kay? I come out to those plains pretty often, so if any of them looks back we'll pretend we're just going the same way as them, looking for berries," Ziggy reassured, seeing her expression.

Keira watched as the guild Pokémon cheered something, possibly waking up the rest of their guild, and began to move eastwards. The sun had been weakened so much by the strange draining phenomenon that despite facing it, none of the Pokémon needed to shield their eyes. Keira observed the party – three Pokémon were leading it, a Zangoose, an Espeon and a Charmeleon – Flare, wasn't that his name? They were followed by nine other Pokémon, who had gathered into one large marching group that seemed to be chatting excitedly amongst themselves. She picked out Sydin the Teddiursa and Darius the Girafarig – Sydin was riding on his partner's back, and Darius was happily skipping along, the atmosphere of the landscape starkly contrasting this. Keira was quite impressed by all these Pokémon's determination to keep optimistic despite the strange curse the land was under.

"Let's go, then," Ziggy said. The two Pokémon began to trot behind the group, getting close enough so that they could hear what the Pokémon were saying but not so close that they would be noticed. Keira noticed that their footsteps blended in with the other Pokémon's. That would help them to stay unnoticed.

"We shouldn't walk right behind them," Keira said. "They'll know immediately that we've been following them. Let's stray to the side instead."

Ziggy obliged, and they veered off to the left of the guild Pokémon. They knew that they would be walking on the moor for a while yet.

"We shouldn't talk too much," Keira decided. "Our footsteps blend in with theirs, but they might be able to hear our voices."

"Why are you so paranoid, hey?" Ziggy said, chuckling. "Don't worry! They won't hear us. I doubt they can hear over Darius's voice."

Sure enough, the Girafarig was singing as if he had never stepped onto the moor before. He was also moving in such a lively way that everyone tried to keep away from him, as to not be trampled by his hooves. A Seviper hissed loudly as he almost stomped on her ornately patterned tail, and her Sneasel friend shot him a glare - not that he took any notice. The attention he was drawing, and the fact that most of the Pokémon were deep in their own conversations, made Keira feel a little less uncomfortable.

"We are the guild of Misty Moor! We're out to conquer Glyph Cave an' more!" Darius sang. Sydin the Teddiursa clapped along with his voice, not at all afraid of falling off the tall, rampant Pokémon.

"Watch it," Flare said, stopping to turn to Team Thrill. "It will be quite a long walk towards Shady Forest. We will also need to get through the woods as soon as possible when we do reach them, so please conserve your energy for now."

"Hey, Flare! Totally getting into the leader attitude, eh?" the Sneasel said, laughing. He was walking at the front of the party.

"Dude, no need to worry 'bout us!" Darius said. He reared up, forcing Sydin to throw his paws forward and cling to his neck. "I've got more energy than six thousand angry Combee, I tell ya!"

Flare snorted and turned back to walking. At the front of the group, Zangoose and Espeon were discussing something. Keira tried to figure out their genders from where they were, remembering that the Guildmaster's voice had been male. In the end, she decided that the Zangoose must be the Guildmaster, and that the Espeon was his assistant – Aesta.

They were talking too quietly for her to hear, especially over the sound of Darius's singing. She tried to listen into another conversation, this one between the three Pokémon of Team Rain Dance.

"Honestly, I'm not being ungrateful, but I don't see why we're mounting an expedition when the state of the land is clearly getting worse," a Poliwrath was saying. Keira was sure that she had heard his name at the guild's dinner meeting, but it escaped her for the moment.

"Now, now, excuse me!" his teammate, a Masquerain, said, flapping his wings faster for emphasis. "Don't you think that we deserve a break, Magnus? We've been running around all day ever since this guild started and we joined. It's about time we got to do something a normal explorer does! Solving the long-hidden mysteries of ancient places! Now that's what I call a real adventure."

"This guild was started to help Pokémon who were affected by the deterioration, remember?" Magnus pointed out. "I don't see what spontaneously taking a trek out to some cave has to do with that. It's not as if we're walking a long way to help, say, some Pokémon in trouble."

"Huh… they founded the guild because of this deterioration? I never knew that!" Ziggy said very loudly. He jumped, clapped one front paw over his mouth and looked apologetically at Keira.

"Be more careful," she whispered. "You're gonna get us caught."

"Sorry," Ziggy mouthed. Keira went back to listening to the Pokémon's conversation.

"We should strive to do what we set out to do instead of wasting away valuable time on a random expedition," Magnus was still complaining.

"Oh, don't be such a no-fun dude!" Darius had heard him and came bounding over. "We gotta have some breaks, yeah? These unlucky dudes back at the guild'll keep doing the work for us! Hah! Poor them! I can't imagine being one of them, left at the guild while we go an' solve a nice big mystery. I mean, who cares if it doesn't exactly fit our goal? Even us guild Pokémon need our fair share of fun, eh?"

At that moment, Keira saw Zangoose and Espeon turn their heads to look at each other. It was too far away to read their expressions, and she was not sure if she had imagined the two Pokémon nodding to each other.

"I just hope that we find the cause to this problem soon," a Croconaw near them said, kicking a few shreds of wilted grass into the air. He watched the discoloured shreds float down before continuing walking. "This weird curse is making everyone unable to evolve. I know I should be a Feraligatr by now - I've been practicing for months and months. It's holding us all back."

"It's… disabling… evolution?" Keira muttered to herself. So that was why there were so many unevolved Pokémon around.

"Yes, Jeffrey. We must solve this problem as soon as possible," Magnus said. "It's causing problems for Pokémon everywhere."

"We will, don't worry," Sydin said. "I bet all of the guild's scouts are out there right now, busy looking for any information that might help us. I know it's kinda worrying how it's getting worse, but as long as we believe we can do it, we'll be able to get rid of this curse, right?"

"I want to join the guild," Keira heard Ziggy speak up again. He didn't seem aware that she might be listening in. "I want to solve this problem… I'll… I'll join this guild when I've got the chance. Hopefully…"

He trailed off, his voice quietening so that she could no longer hear him. Then she realized that he had quietened down for a reason – he was staring at the surroundings bewilderedly. Keira stopped walking; her fur, which had flattened since it had gotten warmer, fluffed up again.

"The mist's suddenly… thickened?" Ziggy gasped.

Keira's heartbeat quickened. She looked around frantically. The Zigzagoon was right – the mist around them had suddenly thickened so much that the guild members were barely silhouettes in the distance. She instinctively edged closer to Ziggy until their bushy tails were touching. The white mist seemed to be closing in on them, intending to smother them, to suffocate them, to trap them in its ghostly grip… Memories of the fight with Ariados returned to her – the ghastly mist reminded her of the revolting white silk that he spat.

"What's going on?" Ziggy said.

_"Hehehehehe…" _a cackling noise sounded from the encroaching mist.

Keira felt her limbs begin to shake. This had all been a terrible idea. They shouldn't have come! Now they were going to be attacked by another one of those unruly Pokémon…

_"What's this? Children wandering around this far out in the moor?"_

"W-who are you? There's guild Pokémon nearby, you know, and if you don't clear off…" Ziggy growled, pricking up his bristly fur so that it made him look larger. Yet still Keira knew that he, too, was afraid from the shaking of his voice.

_"Oh, don't worry… the mists that you see swirling around you quieten any noises… they won't be able to hear you here…"_

"What do you want? We don't have any poké!" Ziggy cried.

_"Oh, we're not going to hurt you… And poké are no use to us, anyway. It's very rare that such young Pokémon come wandering out this far…. We just wish… to have some _fun _with you!"_

_We? _Keira thought woefully. There were more than one of those beings?

"We don't have time!" Ziggy shouted. "We're doing something important! Please just let us go!"

_"Now, kiddie… do you think that we'd give up this chance that easily? We are bored, little Zigzagoon. We are bored."_

"G-go play with someone else then… we have things to do!" Ziggy cried.

_"I'm afraid that's not going to happen, dears…"_

A dry laugh echoed in the background. Another one of them spoke up.

_"We have not had fun with other Pokémon for so long… Show us what it's like to be alive again!"_

Then they began to chant, all at once.

_"To breathe again! To be tickled by the wind again! To feel the thrill of life again!"_

Keira's shaking breath caught in her throat as figures began to emerge out of thin air. They resembled floating, ragged bundles of cloth and each of them wore a mask on its face, or where its face was supposed to be. Under the mask was not skin, but rather a black abyss, illuminated by a single red eye. They all had a necklace hanging around their body – a glassy blue sphere attached to a string. The six Duskull formed a circle around the two trapped Pokémon, revolving around them as they laughed their unnatural laughs and looked over them with their eerie red gazes.

"Go _away_!" Ziggy shouted.

_"Hahahahaha! Hahahaha!" _The sickening cackles continued to sound all around them. It was all Keira could do to not cover her ears with her paws.

And then they dove for them, their paws of torn cloth outstretched. Keira turned away and ran, but the Duskull were too fast. They gripped her long fur in their ghostly hands, their touch burning through her fur like cold fire. They dragged her into the air where they shoved their masked faces into hers, blinding her with the intense red light shining from their eyes. And they were laughing, laughing like they had never had so much fun in their lives – if the existence of ghost Pokémon could even be considered 'life'.

"Keira, try to bite them!" Ziggy yelled. He jumped and swiped at a Duskull, but his paw passed through her harmlessly. "I can't hurt them! They're ghosts! They can't touch me but I can't touch them either!"

But Keira's mind wasn't working. All she cared about was getting away from these Pokémon, and she knew only one way to do it – run. But their hands spread across her body like a thick, sticky liquid, holding her into place. Her terrified struggles did nothing to help her break free. In fact, with each one of her desperate kicks they seemed to grip her tighter.

"Let go!" Ziggy yelled at the Duskull. But they responded only with laughter. And then, much to the Normal-type's shock, a pink aura enclosed on him and he, too, was being lifted into the air.

"You're not supposed to be able to affect me!" he cried. He kicked and struggled but couldn't seem to break free of the power that was holding him. Keira gazed up at the dancing Duskull, her eyes wide with terror and her body shaking so much she thought she was going to fall apart. What were they going to do with them, now that they had them trapped?

They just pranced around them, laughing maniacally, chanting in a strange language that she couldn't understand.

_"Let the Poochyena go. We can have some fun with that little coward," _one of them hooted. Keira gasped as she felt the shadowy claws draw away from her, letting her fall onto the wilted grass below. She immediately tried again to flee, but another Duskull swooped over her, tripping her over with strands of shadow energy. She fell flat onto the grass and was soon scooped up and tossed into the air again. All around her the ghost Pokémon were laughing at her, mocking her. They threw her to and fro each other again and again as if she was a toy. Ziggy, still suspended in mid-air, was screaming his lungs out for her to attack.

She couldn't take this anymore.

Twisting as she fell towards the Duskull who was meant to catch her, she readied herself to bite. She felt energy gather around her fangs as her mouth opened and she snapped at the Duskull. The Ghost-type seemed to utter a howl of pain as her teeth snapped over his cloth-like skin.

Using a move did not feel good, contrary to what some of the Pokémon in Topaz Village had told her. Her jaws had clashed together very hard, sending sharp bursts of pain up her teeth.

The Duskull broke away from her, letting her fall towards the ground. She stretched her paws forward, landing awkwardly onto the ground and resuming her wild run towards freedom. She looked back at the Duskull – he had taken the sphere off his necklace and was holding it up. She had to get away as quickly as possible. She lengthened her strides, leaping over the flat plain faster than she had ever ran before.

_Z-Ziggy… no… I can't go back and get him! They'll get me…_

_"You can't get away…. You can't get away…" _the Duskull chanted again in their nauseous voice. Out of the corner of her eye, Keira saw a bright beam – the next second, she had been hurled up in the air again. She was so high up, the other Pokémon had become blurred by the mist. If she landed on the ground up here, the impact was sure to hurt badly. She shrieked as the ground lunged up towards her.

_"Oh, our fun's not going to be over that soon!" _Keira didn't know whether or not to be relieved as she felt a Duskull's shadowy limbs once again grasp her fur. She caught a glimpse of Ziggy as the Duskull dragged her around in circles. He was still floating, and a Duskull nearby was staring at him, motionless as if she had been frozen.

"Attack that Duskull to my right! Please, Keira!" Ziggy yelled.

Keira couldn't think anymore. She blindly snapped at the Duskull who was tormenting her. This time, her bite was more controlled and didn't hurt. Not that she cared anymore. She just needed to get away, get as far away from these Pokémon as possible...

She was dimly aware of one of the Duskull charging up a Shadow Ball attack as her jaws found their mark. The Duskull holding her veered off course just as the other launched her Shadow Ball. The Ghost-type slammed into the attack, letting out a ghastly shriek. The impact of the move sent them flying towards Ziggy and the Duskull holding him airborne.

"Bite her! Bite her!" Ziggy shouted.

Keira did it more out of instinct than because of Ziggy's call. Her Bite attack broke the Ghost-type's concentration and Ziggy began to fall out of the sky. Just as he flew past one of the Duskull, one of his claws caught on his necklace, right above the sphere, and it slipped off. Keira watched, wide-eyed as the sphere on the necklace began to glow. There was a flash of light, another bright beam – and suddenly, power began to gather in her body. Energy streamed from the blue sphere into her and Ziggy. She felt it flood every part of her body, strengthening her, filling her with confidence. Her eyes glowing with the new energy, she bit the Duskull holding her a second time. The Ghost-type Pokémon screamed like a banshee when the attack connected. Her grip loosened, and Keira began to fall again.

Keira and Ziggy landed, with great difficulty, on all four paws. Keira tried not to cry out as spasms of pain coursed through her legs. The Duskull that Keira had bitten fell down with them and landed soundlessly onto the grass, knocked out. Keira leapt into the air as the other five Duskull began to fly towards them, her fear of fighting suddenly chased away by the power the sphere had given her. She effortlessly reached their height and bit another one of them, who too fell unconscious onto the ground. The four remaining ghosts came to a sharp halt, their single red eyes darting between their fallen friends and the two Pokémon whom just minutes ago they were mocking. They turned to each other and a silent decision seem to pass through them.

Then, without a sound, they were suddenly gone, disappeared into thin air just as they had appeared. The mist started to clear away and once again the dull landscape of the moor came into view. The discoloured grass, the dull sky – even that was better than the suffocating mist the Duskull had brought. However, the guild Pokémon were out of sight.

The energy that the orb had channelled into Keira suddenly disappeared and she slumped down onto the dry grass, panting. She had never been so exhausted in her life – though since she had lost her memory, that didn't mean much. She looked over to where Ziggy was – he was looking considerably better than her, though still exhausted.

"H-hey…" she gasped. "What was that? We all suddenly got powered up…"

"Some sort of orb," Ziggy answered. "Orbs are devices that cause strange things to happen when used. Lots of Pokémon use them these days to ward off the territorial Pokémon who went all crazy because of the strange deterioration… There are lots of kinds, I think… I dunno which one it was; I just kinda grabbed it when I fell…"

Keira noticed that Ziggy looked somewhat betrayed. He was staring towards the ground as if not wanting to look at her. Then she realized – when she had been freed from the Duskull's grasp, she had just turned and run for her life without a single look back at him. Guilt hit her harder than the ground had when she landed.

"Sorry," she muttered. "I couldn't think…"

"No!" Ziggy said sharply. "I'm not gonna hold grudges! You… I… I did think you could have thought a bit about me, though. But… this is all my fault. I should've known that these places are unsafe for Pokémon like us, Pokémon who don't know a thing about fighting. Come on; let's go back to Topaz Village. We can't stay out here…"

The Zigzagoon picked himself up and started trudging back in the direction of Topaz Village. Keira had never seen him so down before. She wouldn't have believed he was capable of acting like this.

"No," she said firmly. She couldn't let him give up now.

Ziggy turned back to her, "Huh?"

"We're going to follow the guild, Ziggy. They shouldn't be out of the moor yet. We've got time to catch up. Let's finish what we set out to do, huh?"

Ziggy leapt on top of her and gave her a big hug. Keira almost choked as he squeezed her neck.

"All right then! Let's go!" he said, as if the ordeal had never happened. Then, realizing the state both of them were in, he added. "Oh yeah. After a rest."

"We should get away from these two," Keira said. She pointed to the two Duskull lying on the grass. "I don't want to fight ever again."

Ziggy nodded, "Good idea. Come on."

He began to trod slowly towards the direction of the sun. Before she followed, however, Keira walked over to where one of the Duskull lay and took off his orb necklace.


	6. A Chase and a Meeting

**Chapter Six – A Chase and a Meeting**

"Aah… we've finally caught up…" Ziggy panted.

Keira stopped, gasping for breath, as she glimpsed the shapes of guild Pokémon slipping away through the thick trees of the forest they were now in.

It was late afternoon by the time they had caught up and, even with the weakened sun, the forest was darker than Keira had expected. Perhaps it was because the sky was blocked – not by a thick canopy of leaves, but by sheet after sheet of crisscrossing branches. The forest still had leaves, but they were dry and brittle and hung limpy by their stems. The bark of the trees was blackened as if charred by a fire, and some of the trunks were twisted into eerie shapes.

The atmosphere of this forest was definitely disturbing, Keira decided, and it wasn't just because of its appearance. But there was nothing she could do about that other than get out of it quickly, so she set back to business. After the attack by the Duskull, they had come up with a little plan to avoid any further fights. They would find the guild's trail and keep as close to them as possible without being spotted, so if any territorial, bored, or simply insane Pokemon tried to attack them, the guild would fight them off.

"I'm glad we finally found them!" Ziggy said.

"I think they took a rest on the way here. We wouldn't have caught up if they hadn't," she said to Ziggy.

"Yeah… Come on, through here I think…" he said, pointing to the cleared path the guild had left. "This place's kinda weird, huh? I don't see any Pokémon around! Did they all leave 'cause of the weird draining thing?"

"Maybe," Keira replied. "Let's get to the guild Pokémon and keep them in sight. Something about this place doesn't feel right to me."

As they continued down the path, Keira caught a glimpse of something moving not far ahead of them. A green blur was flickering through the dark trees, stopping frequently. It wasn't a guild Pokémon – none of them were that colour. Keira watched as the Pokémon darted across the cleared path in front of them, too quickly for her to see what it is.

"There's someone up ahead," she told Ziggy, who was gazing wide-eyed up at the matted mass of branches above them as he walked. "Not a guild Pokémon."

"Probably one of the local Pokémon," he replied. "Gee, you must be pretty tough to live in a place like this. And a real good navigator, too..."

They plodded on for a while after that, looking at the dark scenery around them as they walked. Once every few minutes they would spot the strange Pokémon again, but it was too fast for them to properly identify.

"Seems to be following the guild," Ziggy commented as it flickered by again. "Hope we don't run into it. We've been in enough trouble today, right? Hehe…"

Keira gritted her teeth.

They walked on and on, and Keira felt her legs beginning to tire. It had been such a long day, and they didn't have many energy-restoring berries with them. She wondered about where they were going – what was Glyph Cave like? She hadn't realized it before, but the name stirred something within her. She couldn't pinpoint exactly what – it felt like a very, very faded memory. But how could she remember that, when just weeks ago she had lost her memory?

Was her memory perhaps coming back as time passed? It struck her as strange that the first thing she remembered was the name of the same cave they happened to be heading towards.

But maybe it wasn't a memory. There was something else about it... no matter how hard she tried to think, she couldn't figure out what.

It was after half an hour of walking briskly that they caught up to the guild members, who had gathered in a small clearing full of fallen logs. They sat around on the logs, chatting eagerly to each other and stabbing at their maps. Keira and Ziggy hid themselves behind a clump of branches to watch. As they watched, Guildmaster Zangoose jumped up onto the tip of a log which tilted as it leant on another, elevating him above the rest of the guild. He cleared his throat loudly, drawing the eyes of his guild members towards him.

"This seems to be the spot," he announced. "I believe we should change our direction from here... Sydin, would you please...?"

"From here we need to make a turn south," Sydin said, nodding to his guildmaster. He reading off a map from his seat atop Darius's back. "We're running a bit late, I think… It's best we get out of this forest before it gets dark and _they_ come, right?"

Guildmaster Zangoose's gaze swept over the crowd as he calmly said, "Yes. They're known for causing quite a bit of trouble for night-time travellers. We'll have to move fast. It's already darkening. Dusk comes around quickly these days."

Keira felt her fur fluffing up a little. She forced it down again. Who where _they_?

"Gotta agree!" a Woobat fluttering around above the heads of the guild members said. "I wouldn't wanna mess with _them._"

"They'll be pretty hard to spot when it's dark, especially in a forest like this," Magnus the Poliwrath said. He looked around the congregation of guild Pokémon, "Plus, many of us have a type disadvantage. They'll be a big problem if we come across them."

"But not all of us, hey?" Sneasel shouted. He flashed his sharp claws.

The Masquerain hovering near him bobbed up and down in the air to attract attention, and then said, "Heh, I'm not worried. I'm the only one here to have seen Guildmaster battling. We wouldn't lose to untrained thugs like them. But I do suppose it would be most beneficial to simply get out of the forest before they come, eh?"

This set off a series of nods around the gathered Pokémon. Then, they jumped down from the logs and began to make their way in another direction. Keira watched, impressed, as Guildmaster Zangoose used his blade-like claws to swiftly cut away at the fallen branches and bare bushes stacked up on the ground like fences. They waited until the guild was almost out of sight before following them.

"We shouldn't lag too far behind," Keira muttered. "I don't like the _they _they were talking about, whoever _they_ are. I don't want to get into a fight ever again."

"Aw, relax a bit!" Ziggy said cheerily. "It's an adventure, okay? Stop being so uptight all the time! We're supposed to have fun! The guild's scared too, probably, but they're having fun too!"

"But I don't want to get attacked," Keira replied. "I _can't _fight. I've seen everyone do it and I don't know how they do it so naturally. When I attacked those Duskull back there, something about it felt _wrong. _I knew I was defending myself but it just doesn't seem to be what I'm meant to do. It's like… not my nature…"

"I'm not sure what that could mean," Ziggy said, shrugging. "Most Pokémon are real eager when it comes to a fight. In fact, I haven't really seen one as reluctant as you - no offense. I suppose that's you, though. Still, would you loosen up a little? We're supposed to be having fun! That's the reason we came, huh?"

"Doesn't seem like it," Keira growled. She swished her thick tail in annoyance. They were in a forest with some presumably dangerous Pokémon that would be coming out very soon and Ziggy was thinking about having fun? It wasn't particularly fun, anyway, walking through such a gloomy forest.

"O-oh…" Ziggy said. He seemed to shrink a little, "Look… I can't tell you now. I just can't tell you now. I know when to tell you. I'll say it when the time comes. I promise it's a good reason. I promise!"

Keira didn't reply. She wasn't sure what to say. The environment around them was steadily growing darker, and her pace was quickening as was her heartbeat. Ziggy still seemed as cheerful as ever, skipping through the forest as if it was a bright sunny day and the sky was blue again. She made sure that the guild Pokémon were always in sight, her eyes following the bladed tail-tip of the Seviper who was bringing up the rear of the party.

They had not walked much further when a shriek sounded from ahead.

"They're here! They're here!"

Keira's heart skipped a beat. Great. Just great. They were going to be attacked yet again. The second time in one day. And this time, it sounded like they were up against some real formidable enemies instead of a bunch of bored ghosts. Could she go anywhere without getting attacked?

From where the scream came from, a deep, throaty cackle rose into the air. It sounded like the deformed hoot of a bird Pokémon. This was followed by the fluttering noises of dozens of wings, raucous laughter, and more screaming.

"We have visitors, boys!" a loud, gruff voice called.

Horrified, Keira dove into the messy undergrowth – it could hardly be called undergrowth, as it was just a collection of fallen branches and dead bushes. Ziggy followed her. She turned around, looking for the quickest way to run from the apparently attacking Pokémon. If they were lucky, they could get away from those Pokémon before they ever caught a glimpse of them. Deciding that the guild's path was probably the best way to go, she shot towards the track and began to run back the way they came. Ziggy quickly followed, trying to run straight instead of in his usual zigzag fashion.

"H-hey… we don't need to run out of the forest… they aren't the guild for nothing, you know! They'll take care of those Pokémon, and then we'll go back to following them!" he called.

"Well, let's make sure we get away from them first! We need to find a good hiding place, at least!" Keira tried to keep her voice down as she snapped. Running over the forest floor wasn't easy – she tried her best to avoid the random twigs sticking out of the ground and jump over the fallen trees.

Behind them, the sounds of battling and shouting Pokémon were fading away. They once again broke into the clearing. It had become dark – awfully dark, as if night had suddenly sped up just so it would be time for '_them' _to attack. However, the darkness didn't actually affect Keira's sight, as she had the natural night vision of all Dark-types. She quickly spotted the logs in the center of the clearing.

"Into here!" she whispered at Ziggy, and both of them slipped into the hollow inside of the largest fallen log. Keira flattened herself against the bark, hoping that her grey fur would blend in with her dull surroundings and help her escape notice.

"Do ya think they'll see us?" Ziggy whispered.

She shrugged, still quivering, "Don't know. Don't talk."

She tried to see as best as she could from the rims of the hollow log, but didn't dare to poke her head outside in case any of _them _spotted her. From where they were, she still could hear the sounds of battling Pokemon. Once or twice a Pokemon would shoot past the clearing, apparently running or flying away, but nobody had yet noticed them.

She didn't know how long they had waited, but it appeared to have been a while. The sounds of battle had quietened and she was beginning to think that maybe, just maybe, they had avoided a battle. If they stayed in there for the rest of the night, she decided, they could try to catch up to the guild again in the morning.

But it was not her lucky day – it never seemed to be. A sharp feeling of panic shot through her as she saw a black bird land nearby. The Murkrow's feathers were tattered and dirty; a mean gleam shone in his eyes. He prodded around in the undergrowth at the edge of the clearing, and then tilted his head up to say something.

"Aye, Boss. Pretty sure I saw some stragglers run off in this direction. They should be around here."

Keira heard Ziggy gasp softly. She wished he would just stay quiet.

"They look like they got any gold?" the gruff voice that they had heard earlier said. It clearly belonged to something much larger than a Murkrow, which wasn't a good sign.

"Naw, Boss sir," the Murkrow replied. "Still, since those guild 'mons seem too tough, we could get a bit of entertainment outta them, am I right Boss?"

"No!" Ziggy cried out, his fur bristling.

_No! _The word echoed in Keira's mind. Why did he have to call out!? The Murkrow whirled around and faced her, his red eyes gazing straight into hers. She squeezed further into the log, her heart beating so hard against her chest she could almost hear it. If she stayed in there, then maybe the Murkrow and 'Boss' wouldn't be able to reach her…

"Well, well, well," the bird said, taking a step towards them. Keira had to admit that even the raspy voice of the bird sounded better than the Duskull's unearthly chanting.

"Wwww... what is... oops," Ziggy spluttered. He was trying his best to look over Keira's fluffy tail so he could see what was going on.

Keira watched fearfully as the Murkrow poked his beak inside the hollow log. However, the stiff feathers on his head prevented him from entering. She tried her best to not turn around in the tight space and run out of the log – if she did, she'd be caught by those birds for sure. A disappointed look came over the bird's eyes, and for a hopeful second Keira thought that, maybe, there was a chance they would just get impatient and leave them alone. But the Murkrow simply turned to his commander.

"Boss, looks like we're in need of your talents here," he said.

"Hah. Why, I'm most pleased to have an opportunity to show off!" Boss cried out, a hint of triumph in his voice. There was a soft, feathery sound of the Pokémon spreading his broad wings wide, and a whoosh of wind that swept against Keira's face as he took into the air. She still couldn't see what the Pokémon was, and she didn't want to think about that just now.

The Murkrow shoved his face into the fallen log again and cackled, "Boss sir's just gonna show you a neat little trick he uses to get Pokémon outta hiding!"

"Keira!" Ziggy hissed. "We've gotta get outta here! Now!"

Without any further warning, he gripped Keira's scruff with his jaw and dragged her both out of the log, just as a blade of purple energy split it in half. Splinters of wood flew everywhere as the log shattered. Keira let out a shriek of surprise and immediately jumped to her feet, running in the opposite direction. Ziggy sprinted after her. As she entered the undergrowth, she took one fearful look back at where their attackers were. She almost froze as she saw the huge Honchkrow whom his minions referred to as 'Boss', but shook herself out of it. She had to get away, as quickly as possible.

"Get them!" Boss's voice bellowed as they ran. "Get them and bring them to me!"

"Aye, boss!" the collective cries of dozens of Murkrow rang out. Cruel laughter and the beating of wings against stale air sounded as the birds began their chase.

The two Pokémon charged straight through the undergrowth, not caring that the sharp branches and twigs stabbed at their bodies. Keira couldn't open her eyes to see unless she wanted them stabbed, but that didn't matter. All that mattered was that they got away from these Pokémon – but was that possible? Keira didn't need to see their red eyes lighting up the darkness to know that they were still chasing. She could hear each flap of their midnight blue wings; she could feel the strengthening gusts of wind blown against her back as they sped up.

A Murkrow swooped low over them, his talons stretched wide. Ziggy whacked a branch with his tail, sending it flying into him. The Murkrow screeched as he awkwardly tried to regain flight position. Behind him, his comrades were drawing ever closer. Keira lowered her head and mentally screamed at her legs to go faster.

At last they broke out of the undergrowth into what seemed to be a clearing, judging by the fact that they didn't immediately crash into a tree. Keira didn't care to open her eyes, and Ziggy's poor night vision ensured that they didn't see the Pokémon standing in front of them. Nor did they see that he was standing on the top of a steep slope as they charged into him, sending all three Pokémon tumbling down the hill. Keira was too shocked to even yelp as they rolled down. Suddenly, solid ground disappeared from under her. Then she felt their angle of fall change – now they were falling _vertically!_

"Noo!" she heard Ziggy scream as they plunged through thin air, the occasional root scraping at them, until…

_Thud. _

The landing was, surprisingly, softer than when she had fallen out of the air when escaping from the Duskull. Then she realized that she was lying on top of something furry – Ziggy.

"Owowowowow… geddoff me…" he moaned, and Keira shifted. They sat up in the darkness. Keira looked up and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that the birds seemed to have gone. But her relief was cut short when she realized something else – they seemed to be in a pitfall. A rather deep one, at that. Its walls were lined by stiff roots and random branches which had become buried by soil as time passed. Still, being in a deep pit beat being chased by a band of ruffian birds – they seemed to have given up chase. She took a few deep breaths, calming herself down, before turning to talk with Ziggy.

"We're in a pitfall," she told him. "I can see our bag up there. I-it seems to have gotten tangled in the…"

She was cut off by something stirring beneath her. Then, all of a sudden, a Pokémon slipped out from under them and whacked them both over the face. Keira shook her head vigorously, and then opened her eyes to see what had hit them. She gaped in shock as she recognised the Pokémon.

"Well, what are you staring at?" Snivy snapped. "And what the _hell_ was that for?"

"Y-you! Why are you here?" Ziggy choked out.

"I could ask the same of you!" he huffed. "Well, for your information, Zigzagoon, I followed the guild here. After all, a Pokémon like myself should not be missing out on such an adventure."

"O-oh… we did the same," Ziggy said.

"We saw you earlier when you were running through the forest," Keira said. "We thought it was just a local Pokémon…"

"Pah! A local Pokémon! There aren't any Pokémon here but those dirty Murkrow. Bet they chased everyone else away with their repulsiveness," Snivy said. "And now that we've discussed the recent happenings, perhaps we should turn our attention to a more pressing matter." The Grass-type spread his arms towards the sky and screamed out, "_We're trapped in a damn pitfall! AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!"_

"C-calm down…" Ziggy said. "We're sorry, okay? We were being chased by those brutes and we didn't…"

"Oh, is _that_ your excuse?" Snivy cut him off. "Just what I expect from Pokémon like you! You should have stayed and fought them, if you had a pebble's worth of bravery inside you! I'd definitely had smashed their faces in!"

"If you wanna do that so much, then let's find a way to get outta here!" Ziggy shouted. He didn't sound particularly angry, though.

"Look…" Keira began, "Let's look for a way out later. I think we should just spend the night in here. From what I heard from the guild, the Pokémon who attacked us don't come out during daylight."

"Spend the night in a pitfall? _Are you kidding me?_" Snivy screamed.

"We, uh, don't really have any other choice, do we?" Ziggy pointed out.

Keira nodded, "The pitfall's deep. I don't think we could climb out, especially not in this darkness. We could stay here and figure how to get out when it's brighter."

"Why should I listen to you!? It's your fault we got trapped in here!" Snivy yelled. "I'm gonna get the heck outta here!"

With that, a vine shot out of a flap on his shoulder and wrapped clumsily around the first branch it hit. Keira guessed that he couldn't see very well in the dark either. He did the same with his other vine. Testing them both to see if the branches could hold his weight, the Snivy began to lift himself into the air. Every time he touched a branch he would climb onto it and readjust his vines.

"Ah… can't see much, but… do ya suppose he could actually get himself outta here by doing that?" Ziggy said.

A second later he was answered by a thud – the sound of Snivy falling on top of him. Despite the situation and what had occurred just minutes before, Keira couldn't help but giggle.

"It's. Not. Funny," Snivy snarled. He jumped off Ziggy, apparently not at all fazed by the fall.

The Zigzagoon, too, seemed to be amused, "Gonna try that again?"

"Shut up!" he snapped.

"Well, now that you're calmer, can you tell us your name?" Ziggy asked. "We've met ages ago but we don't know your name yet. Tell us!"

The Snivy tilted his head, apparently pondering whether or not to tell. Then he said, "My name's Thistle, and you'd better remember it."

_It suits you, _Keira thought, a_nd not just because you're a grass type._

"All right," Ziggy said, smiling. "I'm Ziggy, and this here's Keira!"

"I don't care about your names! Let's come up with a plan to get out!" Thistle said, his expectant gaze shifting between Keira and Ziggy.

"I said, we should wait until morning," Keira said.

"Yeah! And we'll be able to actually see!" Ziggy agreed.

Thistle sighed. He hoisted himself onto a low rock jutting out of the wall of the pit. "I suppose we don't have any other choice then, so fine! But I'm sleeping up here. I'd rather stay away from unsophisticated Pokémon like you."

Keira felt a strong urge to tell him to shut up. But she didn't, knowing that the best she could do was to stay out of any and all trouble – and that had so far not gone very successfully, since trouble seemed to be very keen on always finding her. Still, Thistle's attitude and antics had somehow cheered her up.

"Well, good night," Ziggy said. "We're gonna get outta this pit tomorrow and be right back on the guild's trail!"

"Yeah, that'd definitely be a cakewalk," Thistle snorted. "Thanks to you two…"

"We've gotta try, huh?" Ziggy insisted.

"The guild's probably set up camp just out of the forest," Keira said. "They'll take a while packing up, probably, so we could still catch up."

"Y-yeah!" Ziggy said. Keira guessed he was still surprised by her tone of voice. She had sounded as if she actually wanted to go.

And she did, she admitted to herself. Even though the hostile Pokémon were scary, even though it was hard work following the guild, she wanted to find out why exactly Ziggy had wanted her to follow the guild onto this expedition so much. She also remembered the feeling she had earlier today – would she find out more if she went to Glyph Cave?

* * *

The next morning came awfully slowly. In her dreams, Keira was being chased again by those birds – some of them morphed into chanting, madly cackling ghosts. This, of course, didn't have much of a positive effect on her mood as she woke up next morning. But as she lay on the dirt, musing about the dreams, she realized something – she hadn't heard any strange voices in her dreams since the night after they found out about the guild's expedition. Maybe these dreams had just been random, just results of her losing her memory? But even then, now that she looked back at it, these dreams seemed so real compared to the nightmares she had the previous night. They seemed as if someone was in fact talking to her. The voices were clear and crisp – in usual dreams, they were blurred and indistinct.

Her train of thoughts were interrupted by Ziggy awakening with a loud yawn. This woke up Thistle, who immediately started arguing.

"How rude!" Thistle yelled. "Considering that you two just knocked me down this stupid pit last night, you could at least have paid me some politeness!"

Ziggy ignored that, "Good morning, Keira! Good morning, Thistle!"

"Hmph," Thistle snapped. "Well, any ideas on how to get out of this place?"

"I-I'm working on that! I just woke up!" Ziggy exclaimed.

"Just what I expect from you," Thistle muttered.

"Well, it can't be that hard, right?" Ziggy said. "All we need to do is to get outta this pitfall – it's not _that_ deep, now that I get a proper look at it, and then we go right back to tailing the guild!"

"Is that so?" all three Pokémon jumped and looked up as a voice rang out from above.

Keira looked up to see Guildmaster Zangoose peering down at them, a displeased look on his face.


	7. Goals

**Chapter Seven – A Goal**

"Damn it. Damn it. Damn it."

Keira was trying hard to ignore Thistle's angry mumbling as the guild members lead them towards their campsite. Apparently, the guild had been scattered by last night's attack by the Murkrow. Because it was too dark to see and the birds were still out and about, they had to simply set up camp as best they could and wait until morning. One of the search parties (consisting of the Guildmaster, Flare, and Team Thrill) had heard noises coming from the pit they were in – and, thinking it was one of their own Pokémon, went to investigate. As they neared the pit, their speech became clear enough for them to hear that they were tailing them.

"This is all their fault! I can't believe this!" Thistle lashed his tail, almost hitting Keira.

"Well, Keira, at least we don't hafta be scared of any more Pokémon from now, eh?" Ziggy was prancing along in his usual fashion, not at all bothered by being found out.

"Y-yeah," she said. She felt uncomfortable talking in front of so many Pokémon.

They had earlier told the guild the story – Thistle, of course, pretended that he had been dragged along by the two of them and simply got separated in the forest before they crashed and fell into the pit. Neither Keira nor Ziggy tried to argue against that, as they already knew Thistle well enough. The Guildmaster was obviously quite angry, but just signalled for them to follow instead of lecturing them.

Beside them, Darius and Sydin, who were absorbed in their own conversation earlier, suddenly turned to her.

"So my partner here's decided that he's seen you two before!" Darius announced. "A few days ago, back in that market, right?"

"Yeah!" Sydin replied. "Think I saw those two here disappear behind Chance's stall. Never knew that they were trying to pull this off!"

"I commend you, you three!" Darius said. "That was one awesome thing to do, yo!"

"Was it? Hah…" Ziggy said.

"Yeah! Shoulda told us! We'd totally have helped you! Right, Sydin?"

"Yup!" the Teddiursa agreed. "We're Team Thrill, see! We're all about seeking out the great experiences of life!"

"Yes! Never gotta let anything stand in the way of a good adventure, am I right? Good job, you two!"

"Please don't encourage this kind of reckless behaviour," Guildmaster Zangoose spoke up. "They could have been caught by these Murkrow."

"But Guildddddmasterrrrr, what fun is there to just sit around on your tails while a bunch of other 'mons are out there on an epic trip to a place full of hidden secrets? You gotta let other mons have their fun!"

Keira thought for a moment. She had always doubted that it was worth it to go on this adventure, what with all the random Pokémon attacking them. For that reason, she hadn't taken the time to enjoy it at all. But they had managed to escape from attacks every single time. And now that they had the guild, should she be less nervous? Maybe with the guild protecting them, they could get to Glyph Cave after all.

But what if the guild sent them back? She took a sideways glance at Ziggy. As cheerful as he seemed, she knew that he was secretly worried that they would be sent back. Despite their less than pleasant experiences so far, she hoped not. She hadn't forgotten the feeling that she had felt yesterday, nor Ziggy's secret reason for having to come.

But… were those reasons worth braving the dangers of this corrupted land?

She didn't know – but there were a lot of things she wanted to know. And the first of them was how those Pokémon managed to do it. How they managed to stay so upbeat through all this. She wanted to be like them, she decided – facing whatever that came their way with good cheer. But it seemed so hard, especially with the environment like this.

Her mind flitted back to the present and she realized Darius the Girafarig was singing another one of his ridiculous songs. From the sound of it, it was their team's theme song. Thistle was swearing under his breath, and looked as if he was doing all he could to stop himself from telling them to shut up in front of Guildmaster Zangoose.

"I hope the other search parties are back." Flare the Charmeleon said as the trees of the forest began to thin out. "They should be, anyway. We've taken longer than we should, finding those three down that pit... Guildmaster, what are we going to do with them?"

"I will discuss the matter with Aesta when we arrive," Zangoose answered.

"He'd better _not _send me back," Thistle hissed. "If he does… and I don't care how powerful he is…"

"Please don't send them back, Guildmaster!" Darius said. "They must've had real guts to come here! Ain't that one of the valued qualities of the guild?"

"We value bravery," Zangoose replied, "but not recklessness. As I said earlier, I have to discuss this with the second-in-command."

"Guildmaster Zangoose is very thorough with what he does," Sydin said to Keira. "A lot of us apprenticing teams are pretty rash and eager to get out to our missions, so we get on his nerves sometimes. Heh. Flare's very patient and thorough, too. I think that's why he got picked to be the expedition helper."

"We don't need no patience, us Team Thrill," Darius said. "I mean, why spend half the day preparing when you can go out, kick some tail and save a 'mon right now?"

"I agree, Darius!" Sydin said, then changed the subject, "By the way, why are you guys out following us, huh? Is it just 'cause you wanna see Glyph Cave? Or you got some other reason?"

"Yeah, that," Ziggy hastily replied. "We don't have much to do back in Topaz Village, so we decided to, uh, venture out a bit for some excitement."

"I approve!" Darius said. "Man, I like you guys!"

"It would be awesome if we had you three in the guild," Sydin said.

Ziggy opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by Flare.

"Everyone, we're at the campsite."

Keira hadn't been paying attention, but in front of them now lay several crudely set up tents. Indeed, only one of them looked as if it could stand a bit of wind. She supposed that these had all been set up at night when the Pokémon could hardly see, and they hadn't bothered to fix it.

An Espeon emerged from behind a tent, followed by two Woobat. They strode over to where the search party was.

"Good morning, Guildmaster," the Espeon said. "We've managed to find both Lavender and Noctes. I've just been having a chat with them."

"That's our guild second-in-command, Aesta!" Sydin leaned down from Darius's back to speak. "She's really nice to us! She doesn't get angry often but you don't wanna know what goes on when she does. Lavender and Noctes are from Team Hearts."

"Oh, who are those Pokémon?" one of the Woobat flitted over to where Keira stood.

"I will speak with Aesta," Guildmaster Zangoose said, ignoring the Woobat. "All of you, stay here. Is the other search party back?"

Aesta nodded, "Yes. They found Flash. That means everyone is here."

"Good," Zangoose said. He turned to the other Pokémon, "As I said, stay here and don't leave the campsite. You may talk amongst yourselves. I will be back shortly."

"All right. Got it." the other Woobat called as they began to leave.

"Okay!" the first Woobat immediately began to strike up conversation. "Who are you? Why are you here? Why'd Guildmaster bring you here? Why's Guildmaster talking with Aesta? Do you have anything to do with it?"

"Lavender, slow down!" the other Woobat said. "She's always asking questions. And ninety percent of those questions are pointless. Gee, what a crazy lil sis I have."

"Noctes!" Lavender exclaimed. "I just want to know everything. You know, answers. I love answers."

"You want answers?" Thistle huffed. It was the first time he'd spoken to anyone since they had been caught. "Well, let me give you answers. I'm Thistle, and these two idiots are why I'm even here. Your so-called Guildmaster brought us here because these two had the marvellous idea of crashing into me and sending us all down a pitfall. He's probably talking to that Espeon to figure out what they're gonna do with us."

"Woah, you slow down too!" Noctes said, flapping his wings frantically.

"I'll give it to you the short way, then!" Thistle snapped. "This wasn't my idea. It's not my fault."

"Chill, man!" Darius said.

"So, uh… let me guess, you decided to follow us on the expedition, right?" Lavender asked.

"… yes. That's right," Ziggy said. Thistle snorted.

Suddenly, a flash of red and white flew past Keira. She blinked to see that a Masquerain had swooped in.

"My oh my," he trilled. "Looks like Guildmaster caught some stragglers, has he?"

"Flitter, don't go around scaring everyone," Flare said.

"You don't order me around, oh no you don't! I fly how I want," Flitter said, turning to land on Darius's head. The Girafarig's tail turned and snapped at him playfully as he passed.

"I am your expedition leader, Flitter, and I expect that you…"

"What's this big ruckus, hey?" a Sneasel and a Seviper had arrived. Keira had seen all those Pokémon before, but she was feeling quite dazzled by all of them suddenly coming in. Almost all of them, anyway – the Poliwrath and the Croconaw she had seen yesterday were nowhere to be seen.

Sydin must have been thinking the same thing, because he asked: "Hey, where are Magnus and Jeffrey?"

"Guildmaster sent them out on some scouting mission to find the fastest way to the ruins," Flitter answered. "They only needed two 'mons, so I got to stay behind."

"I've heard everything you were saying," the Sneasel said. "I gotta say, it's quite amusing. Say, how'd you get yourselves found out anyway?"

"Shut up," Thistle snapped. "But for your information, these two clumsy airheads accidentally let out some information while one of your search parties were around."

"Oh, so blame your little friends, huh?" Seviper said, laughing. "How rude of you! Still, I suppose you are one of the less refined snake species around, yes?" she swung her bladed tail at him, but the Snivy was a few paces too far away.

"W-what?" Thistle snarled. The Grass-type seemed to grow in size with rage. "What did you just say to me!?"

"After all," Seviper simply continued. "It is made obvious by your lack of beautiful, ornamental markings like those of a Seviper."

A vine rose out of Thistle's shoulder and headed for the Seviper, who grinned and batted it aside with her tail. Keira shuffled backwards, shocked at what was happening. The other Pokémon were staring, too. Was there anywhere without violence in this world? Thistle withdrew his vine, glowering at the Seviper with an expression that would put off a charging Rhydon. Seviper just smiled smugly at him.

"H-hey, man, what was that?" Darius finally spoke up, breaking the awkward silence that followed. "Don't fight, man… not cool… Guildmaster doesn't like fighting between guild members."

"Hmph," Thistle said.

The Pokémon sat again in silence for a few moments, before the calm voice of Guildmaster Zangoose rang out.

"You three! Come over here."

Keira and Ziggy looked at each other, and then began to move towards him. Thistle shot the Seviper one last angry glare before following them.

Guildmaster Zangoose was standing with his deputy Aesta. Keira tried to read his expression, but only found his usual seriousness. They stopped in front of him and looked up at him hopefully.

"We have decided that we'll have to take you along," he said.

"Yay!" Ziggy uttered. Seeing the stern look on the Guildmaster's face, he mumbled, "Sorry."

"We have come to that conclusion," he continued. "Because sending you back right now would be too difficult. It will take you more than a day to get back, and it's too dangerous to send young Pokémon such as yourself that far, with no proper equipment. However, it would be a major inconvenience to have to send one of our own Pokémon back with you. That is why you will be coming along with us."

Keira nodded, "Thank you, Guildmaster."

"You three shouldn't try to run off or stray from the guild," Aesta said. The Espeon's voice was much gentler and expressive than the Zangoose's serious, leader-like voice. "It's for you own good, okay?"

"We will treat you like any other expedition member," Zangoose said. "However, we will be pairing you up with another team that will serve as your... guides for this trip. I expect that none of you get in the way of my guild. I also expect that you do your best to help us. We're doing you a big favour by just letting you come with us with no punishment. Do you understand?"

"We do," Ziggy said. He grinned, "Thank you so much!"

"Now, Snivy, why don't you say thank you?" Aesta said to Thistle.

"Thanks," he mumbled. Keira looked through him carefully – he still seemed to be furious. Of course, his luck hadn't been the best in the past day – she supposed that she too would be quite annoyed if she were him.

"Guildmaster," Ziggy said. "What do you want us to do now?"

"Just go hang around the campsite until the scouts are back," he said. "Don't get into any trouble. I don't want to inconvenience an expedition member to send you back just because you misbehave. I will go and find a team that wants to be your guides."

"Yes," Keira said. "Thanks, Guildmaster Zangoose."

They turned away and began to walk back through the campsite. Thistle went the other way, again hissing curses under his breath.

"I think we should go back and find Darius and Sydin," Ziggy said. "They seem to like us, at least. I don't wanna run into the Seviper and her friend again. Maybe we can ask them to be our… guides, or whatever."

"I don't think we need to find them," Keira said. She pointed a paw towards two shapes who were rapidly moving towards them through the grubby tents.

Darius skidded as he closed in on them, managing to stop himself half a second before crashing into them. The Girafarig bowed his head and Sydin slid off onto the ground, using his neck as a slide.

"Hey! What's up!?" Darius shouted, despite the fact that they were quite close together. "Guildmaster didn't send ya back, did he? Guildmaster ain't that cruel. Real strict, though, that 'mon!"

"No," Ziggy answered. "He's letting us come with you, and…"

Before he could finish his sentence, Darius had thrown his front hooves up into the air.

"Woo-hoo!" he cheered. "Got some new expedition members, yo! I owe the Guildmaster one for this!"

"This is great!" Sydin said. "Stick with us, okay? And we'll be expecting you two to tell us about your past exploits! Hey, speaking of you two, what happened to the Snivy?"

"He doesn't like us," Ziggy and Keira spoke at the same time.

"Must be another no-fun dude, eh?" Darius said. "We don't like sticking round no-fun dudes, yo. Remember that Persian, Sydin? Remember him?"

"Ah, yes…" Sydin said. "Chance gave us quite a lecture when he bumped into us after that little accident. Haha."

"Uh, yeah," Ziggy said. "As I was saying, Guildmaster Zangoose wanted to find us a team that would stick with us and, well, help us, I think."

"Well, Team Thrill at his service!" Darius boomed. "Which direction did he go? We're up to it!"

"You don't need to be anymore," Guildmaster Zangoose's stern voice sounded. While they had been talking, he had managed to sneak up on them silently. The four Pokémon turned and looked respectfully at him. He was with the two Woobat of Team Hearts.

"Uh, hi!" Lavender (at least, Keira thought it was her. It was hard to tell the difference between the two siblings) immediately shot over to them like a furry bullet. She whizzed around them, saying: "We're your helpers for the expedition! What do you think, huh? Do you want us to be?"

"Lavender, stop annoying them!" Noctes shouted. Keira had to duck as a second furry bat flew over to where Lavender was, grabbed her with his right wing and pulled her back towards Guildmaster Zangoose.

_Some high-strung Pokémon in this guild, huh, _Keira thought. _Between them and Ziggy, it looks like I'll be in for some lively trip…_

"These two will be staying with you at all times," Zangoose said. Seeing the disappointed looks on Team Thrill's faces, he added, "You don't need to look so hurt, Sydin and Darius. I chose those two for their sensory abilities. They can immediately feel when they're out of range, whether or not they're facing that direction. That being said, the Snivy isn't with you?"

"No, he's not," Ziggy answered. "I dunno where he went…"

"No worries," Noctes said. He made a high-pitched, clicking noise. "I can sense him on my radar. It goes pretty far, you know, but it's a little hard to use with all those tents around. Guildmaster, do you want me to go and find him? Lavender can stay here."

The Guildmaster nodded, "I'll be heading back to my tent now. If any of you require my assistance, then please do ask. Aesta will be keeping a lookout for the scouts and any suspicious Pokémon. They should be back by the afternoon."

Noctes began to fly in the direction of the forest.

"What's that 'radar' thing about?" Ziggy asked.

"We can't see," Lavender explained. "Not until we evolve, anyway, but as you all know everyone's ability to evolve stuffed up. So we have those things called sonars, or radars. We make a clicking noise and judge where the echoes are coming from."

"That's cool!" Ziggy said.

"I made my dad spend two hours telling me everything about it," Lavender bragged. "Noctes should be back in five minutes."

"I'd say ten minutes," Ziggy said. "I hope he's good at being persuasive."

"Everyone!" a loud, but controlled voice sounded from the edge of the campsite. "We're back. We know where to go next."

"Oh!" Lavender shouted. "I gotta know where we're going!"

Without a second glance back at Ziggy and Keira, she flew off.

_She was meant to stick with us… _Keira thought.

"Well, we should probably go after her," Ziggy said. He gestured towards the direction of the voice with his tail. "Come on, then."

"Hey, wait a moment!" Darius shouted. "Ziggy, you go, okay? We're gonna have a word with Keira here. We'll be coming after ya."

"Huh?" Ziggy stammered. "Why? What do you plan on talking about?"

"Oh, just something I've noticed. Not all that important, really. She can tell you what it's about after if you want," Sydin said. "Don't worry."

"Uh… all right, then," Ziggy shrugged, and left for the scouts.

"All right," Sydin said, turning to Keira. "We've noticed something. We've been, uh, watching you quite a bit since we got you outta the pit. Sorry about that, really, but…"

"So… I'll be honest. You seem a bit lost," Darius said. "That ain't good, nope it ain't. So while your friend's out talking to the scouts, we want to help you a bit. Say, was it your decision to come and follow our expedition group?"

"No," Keira admitted. "Not really…"

"So… you don't really like going on adventures?" Sydin said. "I got it."

Keira debated on whether she should tell these two about her troubles – nobody had really asked her to tell them anything in this way before. Ziggy had never tried to question her like this. Judging from the spontaneous way the two Pokémon act, they didn't seem like the sort of Pokémon who would be keeping secrets for too long – after all, she didn't want every Pokémon in the guild to know how scared she was. But they had been so respectful of both of them since they met, and she felt a bit bad not telling them when they asked.

"You can tell us anything you want, you know," Sydin said, echoing her thoughts. "We're pretty good at keeping secrets, even if we don't seem like it."

She thought carefully, and decided that they seemed to be trustworthy enough. She would tell them things, but not everything.

"I'm… I'm a bit timid," Keira said. "I don't want to get into any fights… fighting just… doesn't seem very natural to me. So I'd rather just stay in a safe place."

"Well, I'm sorry to say, man, but there's a problem with that," Darius said. "You know how the world's been going outta whack recently? Yeah - that stuff, a lot of 'mons think that the worsening environment is the reason why it's so easy to think negatively. It's all right to be scared, yup it is, but you should try to be braver, got that? Cos being timid isn't gonna help you achieve anything in this kind of world."

"Being scared prevents you from enjoying life!" Sydin said. "And that's what Team Thrill's against. What's life if you can't enjoy it, huh?"

"But… I… I don't really know what to do. I just don't like facing aggressive Pokémon. I don't think there's any point in fighting."

"There's lotsa point in fighting!" Darius crowed. "You get stronger by doing it, man! And strength's pretty important right now."

"Not for me. I-I don't know how all of you manage to stay so upbeat. I can't help but be afraid of everything."

"I think I know the problem," Sydin said. "You don't really have any goals, do you?"

"No." She realized that up until now, she hadn't had any goals, or ideas about what to do with her life. She had simply ridden on Ziggy's ambitions. Was her amnesia part of the problem, she wondered, or was she always so lost? Were her previous goals perhaps hidden away in her dreams?

"Aha!" Darius said. "See, you know how we're all so optimistic and all? It's because us guild Pokémon are determined to find the source of this weird curse and lift it from the world! So to achieve that, we know that we have to stand strong and face any challenges, no matter what. It's goals that give you the motivation to be brave, and you don't got any, so you're a bit lost."

"In other words, you need to set a goal," Sydin said. "And you gotta take measures to achieve it. Say, what do you want to achieve?"

What did she want to achieve? The first thing that came to her was getting to Glyph Cave. After all, Ziggy had wanted to do that so much. And... as she thought, the feeling she had about Glyph Cave was becoming clearer... Something was echoing inside her head.

She blinked, and said: "I... I want to get to Glyph Cave."

"Hmm. Good! That should do for motivation. But you gotta promise yourself, you'll do whatever's possible to get there, whether it means standing up to your fears or not. 'Cause if you're determined enough to do something, you'll naturally be braver. Got that?" Sydin said.

She nodded, "Okay. I understand now."

"Good!" Darius said. "So you're gonna get to Glyph Cave, even if the trip's dangerous for guild Pokémon like us. You aren't gonna let nothing stop you. That's how you achieve things. So just remember, whenever you feel lost or scared, think about what you want to do. And know that you'll achieve your goal if you never give up – that helps keep you optimistic."

"Thank you."

"No problem!" Darius bowed. "Always gotta help a fellow Pokémon, man!"

Keira's steps shook a little as she followed the two Pokemon to the campsite's edge.

When she was trying to choose a goal, that feeling about Glyph Cave had all of a sudden become clearer. She felt pulled towards Glyph Cave. She felt as if she was meant to go there.

And when she had felt that, she had heard a echo. Or rather, someone's voice had found its way inside her head without first going through her ears. It had been so tiny that she almost missed it, but...

At that moment, she was certain that something in her mind had said, _"Your destiny awaits."_


	8. A Surprising Discovery

**Chapter Eight – A Surprising Discovery**

**A/N: nooo reviewers come back I love you all ;_;**

Keira almost fell over in surprise as the group stepped into the cavern.

It didn't as much resemble a cave as a road carved through great thickets of exotic foliage. In fact, it might have only been a cave from the outside. The tunnel was filled with shades of green that nobody had seen for so long, and wildflowers of every colour imaginable dotted the bushes and trees that grew inside. Tiny streams of water wove around the roots of these plants, sparkling in the strange light that lit up the 'cavern'. The low hum of Combee was in the air, and drunken-looking Butterfree hovered around, occasionally turning to look at the guild Pokémon. The sudden change of tone from the outside world was overwhelming.

"Wow!" Ziggy breathed. "Who knew there was such a place just out here?"

"Interesting," was all Guildmaster Zangoose said. It seemed that he was more curious than impressed at all this.

The tunnel appeared to be just one long path, so they didn't have to stop at any forks. Keira was enjoying the feel of the soft grass beneath her paws, instead of the brittle, dry grass that covered the ground of what was outside. It felt as if they had suddenly been transported to another world when they entered the tunnel.

_And if this really is another world, _Keira thought, remembering the conversation she had with Ziggy the night before they set out on this adventure, _it has got to be one of the brightest worlds in the night sky._

Lavender the Woobat had once again left their side to carefully examine the plants growing in the tunnel, muttering out questions that nobody knew the answers too. Noctes gave a snort of annoyance, but kept flying by Keira and Ziggy like he should, apparently too exasperated with his sister to bother alerting her. Ahead of them, most of the guild Pokémon were too busy looking at the surroundings to even speak. The party continued in silent awe like this for several minutes, until Flitter the Masquerain decided to break it by shouting "Marvellous! Marvellous! Why, it has been so long a time since I have seen plants that weren't half-dead!"

"I wonder what's kept this cavern from turning all bad," Noctes commented. Keira guessed that the same question had been on everyone's heads from the moment they stepped into the tunnel.

"I can feel an energy that's pulsing all around us," Aesta said from her lead position up front. "Maybe that's what's keeping all the plants in this place alive. I cannot define the direction that it's coming from. It just appears to fill the entire tunnel."

"Very interesting," Zangoose said.

"What say we find the source of that energy?" Sydin piped up. "I mean, think about it. If we could find it, then maybe we could restore other places too!"

"Yeah!" Noctes called out. "What a good idea. This might be our solution to all the weird deterioration stuff that's been wrecking the place."

"But what if there isn't a source? What if this passageway's just naturally like this?" the Sneasel, whose name Keira had earlier learnt was Flash, said.

"We should still try," Noctes said. "And besides, I think the energy has got to be coming from _somewhere. _Even if there isn't a source in here, maybe someone enchanted it. So if we search around, we might find clues. And right now, clues are much better than nothing, right?"

Flash shrugged, "Yeah, I suppose. Would be nice to see something normal again."

"I can't believe it," Magnus said, still managing to sound calm as he uttered the sentence. "We've gone more than half a year without realizing that the solution's right here, in this tunnel just across the forest!"

The guild was soon alive with chatter as they discussed the possibilities. Guildmaster Zangoose had to shout about six times before he could get their attention.

"I realize that this is most certainly a good idea," the Guildmaster said. "However, we cannot set out to find the source now. We will find the other end of tunnel, set up camp just outside, and then conduct a more organized search. Please do not wander off as the foliage here is very thick and you could easily get lost. Do I make myself clear?"

"But Guildddddmasterrrr!" Darius whined. The Zangoose fixed him with a glare, and he immediately took a few steps back, muttering, "Sorry…"

"Do I make myself clear?" Guildmaster Zangoose repeated.

"Yes, Guildmaster," a few disappointed Pokémon answered, and the guild continued the trek.

Ziggy turned to Keira, his eyes sparkling. "Did you hear that? … Yeah, of course you did! They think they've found a way to reverse that curse, spell, whatever, that's been killing the land for the last two seasons!"

"So that means…" Keira said.

"Yes! Very soon we might find a way to get this world back to normal again!"

Even though she had just woken up in this world, several weeks earlier, with no memories of it, Keira felt an unexpected urge to celebrate. She imagined if everywhere looked like this tunnel. That would definitely be an amazing place.

"Great!" she said. "Then I could finally get a glimpse of what it's supposed to look like!"

"And no more food shortages!" Ziggy cried out happily.

"This is good," Noctes said. "I was hoping we'd be in this tunnel for quite some time, but now I want to reach the end as soon as possible. Then we could finally solve all our problems."

Ziggy and Keira nodded, and they moved on.

Ziggy stopped as they passed a shiny stone almost concealed under some soft ferns. Pushing apart the fronds with his paws, he picked the stone up. Keira looked at it carefully – the stone's smooth surface was splashed with blue and purple.

"I like this stone," Ziggy said. "I'm gonna keep it as a souvenir. I gotta have something to remember this adventure by, huh?"

"Just get on with it, 'kay?" Noctes said. "We don't wanna lag behind the party like Lavender. Heh, I wish I had a saner sister…"

As soon as Ziggy dropped the stone inside his bag, which was scratched and worn from their tumble down the pit yesterday. He staggered a bit as he pulled it on.

"Woah," he said. "I didn't expect it to make our bag this heavy."

"I could carry it," Keira offered. "You've been carrying the bag all this time."

"Oh! That'd be nice. Thanks," Ziggy said.

The two swapped the bag. It _was_ quite heavy, but Keira knew she should be able to carry it anyway. She did her best to catch up as Ziggy and Noctes began to run towards the guild, which had gone on ahead quite a distance since they stopped. Meanwhile, Lavender was a hardly noticeable blue speck in the green-saturated tunnel behind them. She hoped that the Woobat wouldn't wander off amidst all the plants.

"Hey, Noctes…" she said.

"Hmm?" the Woobat didn't turn to talk to her, as there was really no point making eye contact when one didn't have any eyes.

"If Lavender gets lost, do you think we'd be able to find her with your sonar?"

"I'm not sure, actually," Noctes said. "Admittedly I feel that my sonar has been messing up since we entered the tunnel."

"Messing up?"

"Uh-oh. That means I can sense the way through fine, but there's something weird about the way my clicks bounce off those plants. Maybe it's because I'm so used to dead trees and such."

"Yeah," Ziggy said. "We've all spent far too long being used to the current world, huh? This really is a nice change. I can't wait to see the world back to normal again."

"Yeah. It would be great if we could find what's keeping this cavern so healthy quickly, and then we could finally do something about all this. How long does this go on for, I wonder?" Jeffrey the Croconaw spoke up.

"Heh, I'm not sure if I want it to be long or short," Noctes said.

"I'm afraid we should move quickly," Guildmaster Zangoose said. "We need to find the source of this energy – that, or we need to get to Glyph Cave. Either way, it's best that we do it quickly."

"Hey, Guildmaster…" Darius said. "I know that we'd better start looking for this source soon, man, but why do we have to rush to Glyph Cave? It's our expedition, ain't it? Shouldn't we be able to take our time?"

"You're not the kind to rush, Guildmaster, are you?" Sydin pointed out.

"And why _or _we need to get to Glyph Cave?" the Seviper, Raze, who hadn't spoken for the entire trip, finally said something. "Wasn't that the point of this expedition? Or are you saying we'll go back once we find the place all this energy is coming from?"

The Guildmaster blinked. He hesitated for a moment, and then said, "I misspoke. We will vote on continuing on or returning to the village if we do find a way to use the energy. If we don't, I... well, all right. We'll take our time reaching Glyph Cave."

"Our Guildmaster doesn't like Raze," Noctes whispered. "I don't blame either of them, if you know what I mean."

Keira wasn't interested in that at the moment. She couldn't help but wonder that there was a reason he might have wanted to get to the cave quickly. She wanted to, too, but she was beginning to appreciate the adventure. She knew that there probably weren't any potential enemies in a tunnel – it was just felt too… good… in here.

Or was it? She felt the fur on her back stiffen. Why would a place like this exist here, untainted by the spell that was spread all across the rest of the land – or even the world? Why would the strange energy that everyone was talking about be in here? Why would it be so enchanting and fresh here in this tunnel if everything else was the exact opposite?

No. She was just being her paranoid self. She needed to take Darius and Sydin's advice – she needed to enjoy the trip without being afraid of something that might not even exist.

"Come on! We're falling behind again!" she said, suddenly taking a leap forwards to catch up with the guild.

For a few moments Ziggy and Noctes stared at her for a moment in surprise, but then they followed, too. Her attitude must have been quite obvious to everyone else. She felt a pang of regret – she shouldn't have made them think that she didn't like coming on this journey. She needed to be more cheerful, for not only her own sake but Ziggy's too.

"Everyone, there's a sharp drop ahead. Be careful," Flare warned. "Don't go all at once, or you'll all fall and crash into each other." He seemed pleased with his new tone of authority, from his expression.

Thistle coughed loudly from where he was walking alone just ahead of them. Noctes, having earlier found him, had also threatened to Air Cutter his tail off if he dared to sneak off again. For this reason, he was to walk within no more than five metres off where Team Hearts was. The threat, of course, didn't help one bit with his sulking. Keira wished that he would get over it. After all, they had been allowed to go on the expedition with the guild anyway.

"Well, we _are_ quite experienced with falling down sharp drops, aren't we, Thistle?" Ziggy joked, loudly so that everyone could hear. Keira laughed as Thistle shot them a look of utter annoyance and loathing, surprising herself. It felt good to laugh.

"A Flying-type need not to be bothered by such insignificant things as drops!" Flitter shouted as he simply flew right over the drop. Keira craned her neck to see how deep it was – just a sharp slope down a few metres. They should be able to get across it fine. The ground at the bottom was covered with some smooth stones instead of ferns and grass, however, so she decided to be careful anyway.

The guild descended the drop in twos and threes. As she reached it, she realized that it looked higher from where she stood. Before she had a chance to think more about the drop, Ziggy flashed past her, rolling down the ledge and laughing as he went. Noctes looked like he would have liked to shrug, but couldn't because he was flapping his small wings quickly in order to stay in the air. Instead, he said, 'well, I get the less fun way' and simply sailed over it.

Keira took a few steps off the ledge. However, the weight of the bag she was carrying made her slip on the soil and she lost her footing, tumbling down and landing in a sprawled mess on the slick stones. Dazed, she looked up and realized that her bag was glowing blue.

_The orb! The orb! _she thought frantically, _I've forgotten the orb I put into the bag! It probably activated on pressure!_

She unravelled the bag and tossed the orb out. She fumbled with it, trying to figure a way to deactivate it before it hurled her into the ceiling of the tunnel, or else blasted everyone in the guild. But there was no way – she closed her eyes as a sharp white light flashed. She kept them closed, waiting for the impact… waiting for the orb to unleash its magic.

But nothing happened, not until she opened her eyes and saw what was going on. Slowly, the landscape around them was dissolving. The green grass and vivid flowers turned into the dark, cold floor of a cavern. The tangled vines hanging down from the ceiling unravelled into bare, stony stalactites. The small trees that grew inside the tunnel melted into air. The guild stared in shock as the tunnel began to show its true self, all its enchanting features disappearing until only the trickling water remained.

Keira's first instinct was to go hysterical, but she tried her best to take deep breaths and calm down. Her body was shaking hard. No. She wouldn't be seen as a coward in front of the whole guild. Trying to take her mind off the impending sense of danger, she looked around.

They were standing in a cavern, a bare stone cavern – Keira could tell it was very dark, for even with her sharp night vision it was difficult to discern some features. Thankfully, Flare's tail flame still illuminated the dark.

"W-what's going on?" someone finally said. Keira could see that all of the guild members were trying to hold their panic in. Except the two Woobat, to which the darkness probably didn't make a difference, and Darius and Sydin, who were talking excitedly to each other.

"So it was an illusion! That must've been a See-Trap Orb! It dispels illusions too! That's so cool!" the Girafarig broke off from his conversation with his partner to shout.

Immediately the guild broke out in half-panicked conversation.

"Quiet please!" Aesta shouted. "Everyone, come towards Flare's light. Be careful where you step."

The guild started moving towards Flare's flame, which lit up a wide circle around him, showing the walls of the passage. The tunnel seemed much narrower now that the illusion had been dispelled, and Keira was almost knocked over several times by the other Pokémon as she moved.

"Don't take all the oxygen," Flare said as everyone nervously settled themselves down on the cold floor in a circle around him. "I need it for both my lungs and my tail."

This caused a few nervous laughs amongst the guild members – Flare simply looked annoyed, as if he hadn't meant that as a joke. The Guildmaster walked into the centre of the group and started to speak, the light of the flame flickering in his face. Keira was reminded of someone telling a horror story.

"Everyone, all the foliage and Bug-types in the cave appear to have been an illusion," he said. "We won't go into details on what exactly an illusion is. However, for now, we must keep going. Try not to panic – there may be dangerous Pokémon here, but we are the guild. We can easily take them on."

"Flare will lead the way, and we will follow him," Aesta said. Her voice was suddenly stern. "When we begin to move, do _not _stray away from the guild. If there are indeed enemy Pokémon in here, we would be obviously much safer in a group then alone."

"Guildmaster?" Magnus said.

"Yes, Magnus?" Zangoose prompted.

"I've heard about certain kinds of Pokémon that can cause illusions, Guildmaster," the Poliwrath said. "Zorua and Zoroark."

"Ah, yes. Good thinking, Magnus. Everyone, there may be Zorua and Zoro…"

His voice was cut off by a ferocious caterwaul. The guild members turned in the direction of the screech – a black-and-red, foxlike Pokémon was running towards them on all fours, its blue eyes glowing in the dark. It leapt towards the Sneasel standing next to it. Flash, however, quickly ducked out of the way with a cry of 'You're right, Magnus!' The Zoroark crashed into the wall and staggered around, dazed, for a few moments before Flitter fired a beam of strange colours into its face. It collapsed onto the floor of the cave in a furry mess.

"There are more of them! I can sense more of them up ahead!" Lavender shrieked. She had somehow caught up with the guild. "Why are they attacking us? Why did they set up an illusion?"

"No time to answer questions, sister!" Noctes yelled.

"Everybody, keep close together!" Zangoose's confident voice called out through the chaos and panic. "We can take them on if we all stick together!"

But nobody had the mind to listen to him – all of the guild's Pokémon were beginning to run in different directions. Keira, too, was charging blindly in the opposite direction from where the Zoroark came. The guild would deal with them, and then she would return to them, and they would move on! But then she skidded, her blunt claws trying to grip the slippery, smooth-stone floor of the cavern.

Where was Ziggy?

He must be back there, with the guild! She needed to get back to him. She needed to be brave and to help the guild! She jumped around and began to run back in the direction of the guild members.

But what had been a previously straightforward tunnel was now a cavern full of turns and forks. She stopped, shaking, between two identical-looking passageways. She tried to use her hearing, but the sounds of the Pokémon echoed and bounced around the cavern walls. She was too far away to detect the light of Flare's tail.

But she wasn't too far away to see something crawling towards her. A Zoroark! There was no way she'd be able to fight a full-grown Pokémon. She turned tail and ran back the way she came, but the creature leapt over here, landing in front of her with a forced grin on its face. It was on all fours, its long red mane swishing around casually as it advanced towards her.

"L… leave me alone…" she was surprised she could even speak in a situation like this.

The Zoroark continued moving in her direction, until his long snout was inches away from her face.

"Leave me alone!" she shouted.

"Uh, well, I don't think so," the Zoroark said. He sat up, "My family's worked hard to hold up an illusion like that, so, umm, it's not really a good idea…"

"Shut your jaw, Kitu!" another Zoroark leapt into the scene. She whacked Kitu hard on the face. "Act like a proper Zoroark, moron!"

Kitu whimpered. He turned back to Keira. "Right. Ahem. Uh…"

"Oh, forget it," the other Zoroark snapped. "Go help the others with the stupid Zangoose. I'll deal with the Poochyena."

"R-right…" Kitu said. The Zoroark turned tail and ran off into the darkness.

"You'll have to excuse my brother," the remaining Zoroark said. "He's not cut out for this, I don't believe…"

"Go away!" Keira said. She fluffed up her fur as much as she could, but she knew that looking bigger wouldn't help when the creature she was facing was already several times larger than her.

"No," the Zoroark said simply.

Keira turned around to run away, but she wasn't fast enough. The Zoroark lashed forward with a paw, knocking her over. She fell flat on her face. Was this Zoroark going to toy with her as the Duskull had done? She hoped she wouldn't. She had endured enough trauma in the past few days. Maybe this Zoroark would do her a favour and just kill her quickly.

_No! Don't give up! _she thought to herself. _You have to be brave. You're going to attack her and run away when she's distracted… You're going to get back to the guild…_

But she couldn't move. Her legs were frozen to the ground just as they had been in every single other battle she was in. She cursed herself again and again. Why was she such a coward? Why couldn't she stand up to a single enemy?

Why was she so pathetic?

"Not so confident now, huh?" the Zoroark said. Her voice was different from the sickly whispers of the Duskull and the raucous squawks of the Murkrow. It was smooth and silky, but it made Keira feel even more uncomfortable than the voices of her previous foes.

"Well, let's introduce ourselves. I'm Soot. Your name, kid?"

The Zoroark was going to taunt her. She was going to make sure she felt the fear before she killed her. Keira didn't respond. Soot shrugged and kept talking.

"It's been some time since a Pokémon wandered into those caves," she continued. "My family has been living here for far longer than living memory. We use our illusory abilities to attract Pokémon into this cave, where we would pounce out from behind our illusions and slay them. It has been quite a good way of getting food."

Keira stared.

"But recently we've found that there have been far fewer Pokémon coming in. As the illusion takes much energy to hold up, we considered switching to a far harder hunting method instead. But then you and your band of friends came in!"

Keira kept staring.

Soot laughed, "Oh, to find so many Pokémon just waiting for us to hunt them down. It has been a blessing, really…"

"GET AWAY FROM ME!"

The shout wasn't Keira's – it was Thistle's. Both Keira and Soot turned around to see the Snivy running at them, his head turned backwards, shouting insults at a Zoroark who was chasing him. He shot right past Keira. The other Zoroark came barrelling into Soot. Keira leapt up and sprinted in the same direction as Thistle while the two Zoroark swore and clawed at each other.

"They're getting away! _They're getting away!_" Soot screamed.

Keira's heart jumped even more wildly as she head the clattering of sharp claws against the stone floor of the cavern. She could see Thistle charging through the tunnel up ahead, using his vines to quickly feel his way through. Usually, the Snivy would be able to run much faster than her with his streamlined shape, but the inability to see was greatly slowing him down.

"H-hey!" she gasped.

"You again?" Thistle said. "Great! I'm stuck with you while being chased by Zoroark! What's up with my luck!?"

"I don't have any choice…" she said quietly. Then, spotting what was up ahead, she gasped, "Dead end!"

"Well, what are you going to do about it?" Thistle said scathingly.

"What c-can I do about it?" she whimpered as they stopped at the dead end. "They're right behind us now… they…"

"Right in front of us, you mean!" Thistle spat as two dark shapes landed in front of them, their blue eyes glowing in the darkness.

Keira backed into the wall, not noticing the ice-cold rocks jabbing into her tail. She didn't know what to do anymore. She had tried to be brave, tried to fight away the force that would freeze her limbs whenever she faced danger, but… It wasn't working.

"… Fine, then," Thistle said, his cold gaze shifting from her to the Zoroark. "Looks like you won't be of any help as usual, I suppose."

With that, he took a blind leap at the two Zoroark, his tail glowing with energy. Keira watched, shaking as the Snivy cut across the two Zoroark's faces. They yelped and reached up for him, but he was too quick. Thistle darted around them, dodging their attacks and bumping into their legs. Keira, meanwhile, was trying her best to gather up all her courage. She knew that she would have to fight to get across the Zoroark. There was no point hiding – they could see perfectly well in the dark. But every time she tried to concentrate on attacking, memories of her previous battles came back and she faltered.

_I can't do it._

_I can't do it._

_I need to do it…_

She pulled her head down and charged. Soot wailed in surprise as she slammed into her and chomped down on her front paw. The Zoroark shrieked angrily and swung forward her other paw, punching Keira. She yelped and scooted back towards the wall – that had hurt, and she didn't want to be hit again.

Maybe she should just wait here, just wait for them to finish her off. It would be much easier…

_No! No! I can't give up like this! I have to get to Glyph Cave! I have to know what is it that's pulling me there!_

_…_

_I need to get back to Ziggy!_

She watched as Thistle valiantly slashed away at the much larger Pokémon. As arrogant, short-tempered and obnoxious as he was, he had courage. He didn't seem to care that he would be hurt as he relentlessly launched attack after attack. The other Zoroark was already buckling under his rapid fire. She would be like him. She would fight for her life no matter how desperate the situation seemed - even fighting an uphill battle would be better than to just lie down and wait to die. She blocked out all the thoughts in her head save for the ones that would enrage her, the ones that would make her attack.

She saw the end of Soot's long mane flash by. She lunged forward, fastening her teeth on her fur. She felt herself being pulled up as the Zoroark twisted around and her mane flicked upwards. She let go – and landed on top of her head. She clamped her front paws around the Pokémon's mouth and began to bite at her ears.

_I can do it! I can do it! I'll win this battle and I'll get back to the guild! I'll be safe!_

"No," Soot said softly, as if she had heard her thoughts. She jumped up into the air, nearly hitting the roof of the cavern as she performed a spectacular somersault. Keira was flung off her head. She smashed into the hard stone wall of the cave.

Two seconds later, she found herself being held down against the cold floor by Soot. The Dark-type's expression was one of triumph. One of her paws was raised, the three sharp claws on its end glinting in the blue light of her eyes – and was that blood dripping from the tips? All thoughts of attacking escaped Keira's head – she knew that this was the end. There wasn't any use be brave anymore. She would die here and be devoured by these Zoroark.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Thistle, too, being brought down by the other Zoroark. He was in the same position as Soot, his paw raised, ready to kill.

It would end here. She would never be able to see Ziggy or the rest of the guild again, she would never find out the secret of her past, or the mysteries of Glyph Cave. Everything she had done – all the trouble that she went through to get to this point – it was all pointless.

Would she allow that?

She had no choice. She closed her eyes, waiting for Soot to strike her exposed throat…

_This is it. This is the end… this is the end._

But even with their eyes closed, creatures would still be able to sense changes in the light and darkness around them. That was why Keira's eyes flicked over when she sensed it change.

The two Zoroark were no longer in killing position – they were squirming on the floor, screaming as an otherworldly blue light buffeted them. Keira couldn't tell where the light was coming from, but she was fascinated by it. It was almost blinding, but she couldn't tear her gaze off it no matter how hard she tried. Was this light coming from an orb? No, it couldn't be – the beam was too powerful, too unreal. It blasted against the Zoroark like a glowing gale that was at the same time beautiful and horrifying.

When the blue light finally faded, she still stood there, mesmerized, for almost a minute before she realized what had happened. The Zoroark were lying motionless on the cavern floor, their ghastly screams still resonating in the cavern. Were they knocked out? Keira watched them, and took a sharp breath as she realized that they weren't breathing. They were dead. The same beam that had saved her had killed them.

But what chilled her even more was the echo sounding in her mind.

_"Our influence is fading… The curse is strengthening… Find it fast, Keira, find it fast. Follow the path that was set for you. You are the only hope for this world."_

"Oh," she said softly.


End file.
